Alphabeat
by I Need a Thesaurus
Summary: A combination of the Alphabet challenge and the Song Challenge all based on Pokeshipping.
1. Apparition

**There's two things I always wanted to write: A Pokeshipping story and an Alphabet one. So I decided to do both with this one. But since the challenge is kinda old I did a twist. Aside from writing a one-shot based on the word of the alphabet I'm gonna shuffle my music player and use whatever song that comes up and incorporate it with the one shot as well. If that sounds confusing I'm sorry.**

 **/**

 **Word: Apparition**

 **Song: Say Goodbye by The Click Five**

 **/**

The night was a cold one for a June evening.

The bar was empty with only the sounds of the bartender whipping off empty glasses to fill the background nose.

Ash was on his seventh drink that night, or at least that's what he assumed, he has lost count after the third.

He wasn't that much of a drinker, heck this was probably the third time he had ever tasted alcohol. The first time was when he mistook the cooking wine for juice and another third time when Gary brought him to a nightclub.

Despite this though he was able to hold his alcohol quite well; unlike Brock who would start doing stupid things on two shots of vodka and pass out on his third. It was from this that it was usually Ash who drove (or dragged if referred to when they were still traveling and he had neither license nor car) the poor old Pokemon doctor home (or drops him in the tent).

But right now Ash might have actually reached him limit.

"I'm about to close for the night kiddo" said the burly barman with a thick red beard "You sure you can handle going home?"

He finished his whisky in one shot and hit the glass on the wooden surface "No I'm good John" he then reached for his wallet and paid for his drink.

"You sure?" the barman took the money "You kinda look terrible"

"That's what you said when I came in"

"Well at least you don't look even worst"

He stood up and took his jacket on the stool "Thanks for the drink"

John crossed his arms "My condolences again"

Ash paused for a moment put on jacket and gave the man a small smile "I'm not the one who needs it"

"I think you need it more" John frowned.

"Not any more than Gary" Ash sighed "I'm not as close as they were"

The bearded man gave the raven head a look "You have a right to be sad about it too, we all are"

"I know" he said heading for the door.

The barman still wasn't convinced "Are you sure you're ok?"

With one hand on the door and another waving the bartender "I'm fine, don't worry I'm not driving" and with that he exited the bar.

A frown formed on the man's face "I wasn't worried about that"

/

It was a little warmer when Ash stepped out of the bar, it was the beginning of summer after all. He reached out for his Pokegear in his pocket but then he remembered leaving it home. He didn't want anyone to know where he was right now.

He sighed and looked up at the sky. It was a crescent moon right now and Ash was kinda disappointed it wasn't a full one. Dawn always talked about how full moons were more romantic of something. For Ash on the other hand full moons usually mean that Team Rocket was planning some stupid trap for his Pikachu or some random trainer will run into their camp asking for help because Team Rocket took their Pokemon.

So with no full moon Ash decided that it was probably just going to be a normal night.

Shoving his hands in his pockets Ash trudged his way homeward. He wondered why John was so worried about him leaving the bar. Sure he might have drank more than the usually but he seemed perfectly fine. Sure neon lights kinda look faded right now but that was just about it.

He had been walking for quite a while now and Ash noticed how it was taking a longer time to reach home. He didn't mind it seeing as he was probably tired from the events that occurred earlier today.

It was unusually quiet outside. Usually even at this hour you could hear some Spinerak and even the occasional Pineco. The pathway was dim as only a few lampposts were actually working and those that worked usually have a weak fuse. Growing up in Pallet he knew each pathway in the back of his mind so he didn't need to look.

All of a sudden he felt his body slowly heat up, at first he ignored it but each step he took he could feel the heat go up from his legs right to his chest. He stopped walking for a moment and his vision started to get blurry only for it to be clear once again with the heat also stopping.

"Boy I drank a lot" Ash placed a hand on his forehead wanting to make sure he wasn't getting any fever or anything.

"You sure did" a voice behind him said.

At once Ash's eyes widened. That was impossible. He probably was just hearing things.

"You don't look to good" said the voice.

He should probably continue walking.

"Are you ignoring me Ash?"

The trainer gulped "Yup never drinking whisky again"

"Whisky? I never saw you as a drinking type" the voice paused "Not unless you counted that time Gary . . ."

Ash turned around and again his eyes went wide.

"Ash? Are you alright?"

His jaw dropped.

"Ash?"

Raising a shaky finger he pointed at the person in front of him "Pro . . . Pro . . . Professor?!"

The old man cocked his head "You look quite pale"

"That's impossible"

"What it?"

"Impossible"

"Ash I do not understand you"

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU!"

"Me?" the professor placed his palms on his chest "What do you mean?"

Still shaking "You're not supposed to be here!"

By now the Professor went from confused to slightly offended "Now pardon me, but I am a grown man and I may choose to go wherever I wish to"

Ash dropped his finger "But you can't"

"And why is that?"

"You're dead"

There was a silence between the two.

"Oh yes, I am aren't I?" the professor said as though he had forgotten this little fact.

At this moment Ash presumed a sweatdrop was formed on his head like those he saw in the anime he saw as a child. "Uhmm . . . does this . . ." he pointed again "That . . . you . . . are a well ghost?"

The old man nodded "Yes"

Ash paused for a moment "And you're haunting me?"

"Well . . . this may be considered that" the Oak patriarch seemed to be considering it some thought.

"Uhh . . ." the raven head stepped back slowly "If that's the case . . ." he pointed with his thumb "I'm going to run"

Still in his thinking pose "I think you . . . wait no Ash!" before he realized it he saw Ash bolting out like a mad Rapidash. "Oh dear . . ."

Ash at the moment didn't know where he was running to but he knew he better get away quick. He had had enough experiences with ghosts to know that they were things (or Pokemon) that need not be messed with. Sure it could have been a Ghastly pulling prank on him but Ash did not bring any Pokemon with him and he was sure that he would not survive two consecutive shadow balls.

Just when he thought he was home free his mad running went to a screeching halt.

Professor Oak was again right in front of him "Now young boy don't you go running off like . . ." he stopped talking when he noticed Ash had run away in another direction "This boy is quite stubborn"

"Fucking Gastly, Hunter, Gengar whatever you are" Ash panted as he tried to get away "Wait a minute" he stopped his running and panted with his hands on his knees "Since when did Pallet Town have ghost Pokemon?"

"Ash listen to me!" Professor Oak was now waving his hands comically.

That seemed out of character for the respected man to do. So this must be a ghost Pokemon.

"Look here!" Ash panted still bent "I've had a rough day, and I'd like to go home now" he panted "So please, let me go"

The professor lowered his arms "If you just stopped running then I wouldn't have done that"

"How was I to know that you wouldn't hit me with a Confuse Ray or something!?" the trainer stood straight. "I've been messed up by enough ghost types thank you very much"

"Do you think" the Professor raised a brow "That I'm a Gastly?"

"Well that or anything in your evolutionary chart"

"Ash I'm real"

"That is what they all say"

"Look here" the Professor touched the trainer's shoulder "I can touch you"

"Well ghosts are really good" Ash looked at the hand on his shoulder "I mean I met this Ninetails, she made really good illusion that Brock almost married" he then added as an afterthought "Now that I think about it most of the girls who liked Brock were either illusions by ghost types or psychic types"

The Professor blinked "You really are drunk"

"Yup I am" Ash nodded "So, whatever you want you won't have it!"

"Ash just listen to me!" the man tightened his grip "I know it must have been hard for you to go through this"

Ash raised his finger "Are you sure you're not James, he did do a great impression of you that one time"

"He looked nothing like me!" the old man shook his head "I am trying to be serious"

"And I'm trying to be suspicious" he poked the old man's nose "Jesse is that you?"

The Professor slapped his hand away from his nose "I am not any of those two"

Ash cocked his head "Meowth learned transform?"

"This is . . ." the Professor tightened his grip "Ash I need you to listen to me, stop stalling" he pointed his finger at the younger boy's mouth "If you say anything"

Ash remained silent.

The Professor sighed "Alright, Ash I want you to know that you don't have to keep your emotions in. I don't want you to think that you don't deserve to grieve any more than my immediate family"

"I am grieving" Ash said looking at the floor "I tried drinking"

"That's not a good way to grieve" the old man sighed.

"Is this all because I didn't cry like everybody else during your funeral?" Ash asked. "Is this what this is all about? That not a tear fell down my cheek when you were there in a casket unmoving and dead? You wanted me to scream my pain and anger as they put you in the ground?"

The professor released his grip "I don't want you to hide your pain inside"

Before Ash could say anything else his chest started to feel hot again and his vision got blurry. "Ash?" the Professor said "Ash . . .Ash . . ."

/

"Ash?" the voice was now more feminine. "Ash can you hear me?" slowly his vision got a bit clearer and he was no longer facing the Professor.

It was Misty.

He also realized he was not standing up on a pathway but he was actually on the laying on the ground "Mist?"

"Pika!" said the yellow rodent from Misty's shoulder.

Ash blinked "What are you guys doing here?"

The red head had a worried look on her face "We were looking for you!" she was still wearing what she had worn during the funeral earlier: A black cotton dress that covered her arms and reached until her knees, a necklace with a sapphire colored crystal and those tiny black hats with several ribbons that Ash found amusing.

Ash himself was still wearing his dark suit "Where am I . . ." he tried to make out his surroundings only for him to spot several grey stones spread out.

"We've been trying to call you but you left your phone in your room" Misty bit her lip "We were so worried Ash"

He ran a hand over his head "I was at the pub, I must have drunk a lot and passed out here on my way home"

"I can tell" she sighed "Your stench is kinda strong"

Pikachu then went over to his master's lap "Pipipikapi pipi!"

"Sorry bud" he rubbed a hand over his beloved friend "But you were sleeping soundly awhile back, decided to just let you rest"

Misty gave him a very concerning look "Ash, you're getting me worried"

"I'm fine Misty" he waved his hand attempting to stand up.

"You're not fine!" Misty raised her voice "You never drink and from the smells of it you drank a lot, I'm surprised you could even hold a conversation at this point"

"If it helps you I'm kinda having a headache" as soon as he stood up his legs felt wobbly and he almost fell grabbing a nearby headstone for support "And I can't walk"

The Cerulean gym leader sighed and assisted her friend by putting his arm over her shoulder and assisting him "I didn't think I'd be carrying another drunk tonight"

"Let me guess Brock?" Ash raised a brow.

Misty nodded "Yup, he was trying to do a Joan Crawford impression and ended up getting a Wigglytuff in the ranch pissed at him"

"I'm sure Croagunk took care of him"

"He didn't that Wigglytuff did quite a number on him" Misty recalling the several slaps Brock received. "But he's fine, it's just his way of mourning" she then stopped walking.

Ash looked at her "You've been giving me that look since this morning"

"Then you're even more of an idiot than I thought"

He looked at her confusingly "What?"

"I've been worried about you ever since the Professor . . ." she trailed, even now that the said man was buried six feet under the ground she still couldn't say it without being a bit overwhelmed.

He looked away "You know you should have just called someone else to find me, you're not in great shape"

"Then why did you go off like that!" she yelled. "You know it's been a hard time for all of us and yet here you go making all of us worried!"

At this he faced her equally mad "What is it that when I leave unannounced you guys always assume I'm gonna do something stupid!"

"Because you always do!" she glared "The only reason I managed to find you was because the bartender said you started screaming at nothing outside his bar and started running off in this direction!"

This made Ash pause "Wait . . . So . . . what I saw . . . wasn't a ghost type?"

"What are you talking about?"

"When I left the pub" Ash bit his lip "I . . . sorta saw a ghost of Professor Oak"

Misty gave him a bewildered look "A ghost? You were yelling at his ghost?"

"I was freaking out ok? The man just died and I thought some Gastly was making fun of me" he panted "Then all of a sudden he started talking about pain or something I dunno"

The read head closed her eyes "Ash, I think . . ."

"That was the alcohol?" he snorted "Yeah, never drinking again"

"Sure but . . ." Misty looked at him right in the eye "I really think that's your brain telling you to . . . let go"

"Misty . . ."

"Professor Oak has been a father to you and you know that" she continued "He's been with you every step of the way from the moment you grabbed that Pokeball and wanted to be a trainer to getting your starter and everything. If there was any one who was prouder than your mom when you got the Champion title from Lance it was the Professor"

He closed his eyes "Misty . . ."

"So you have every right to be upset!" she told him "I know you're trying to look tough but not shedding one tear when Gary himself cried his eyeballs out is saying a lot"

"Look I may look like an emotional guy but I don't do that way!" Ash pulled himself away from Misty and almost stumbled on the ground again.

This made the redhead even more irate "Ash! Get a hold of yourself!"

"Pipikapi!" Pikachu also scolding his trainer.

Ash managed to hold to a nearby lamp post and try to stop the now shaky vision he was having "You know what" he whispered "I'm not ok"

Misty stood behind him "I know"

"He was the first person who actually believed in me" he tightened his grip on the metal post "Even my mom had some doubts about me being a trainer before I started"

This revelation surprised Misty. Delia seemed like the type of person who would support her son no matter how crazy a career he wanted. "But, she always backed you up"

Ash had a small smile "My dad kinda made training Pokemon look like a lost cause back then, he abandoned everything to become better that included my mom and me" he snorted "I don't know where he is but my mom didn't want me to end up like that"

"You love your mom" Misty placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It was Professor Oak who convinced my mom before my tenth birthday" he looked up at the sky "And to think that a respectable man like him would believe in a run of the mill hobo like me, he said I had the spark on what it takes to beat the League"

Misty smiled "And he was right"

Ash sighed then looked at his friend "I always wondered what he saw in me, even when after I beat Lance I wondered what I did to make him say that"

"Maybe it was your stubbornness" she smirked.

"I thought so too" he paused "So I asked him, like the day before he . . . passed on"

She gave another reassuring squeeze on his shoulder "What did he say?"

"He said it because I was the only person" he chuckled "The only stupid person, to ever go to a wild Pokemon infested area without a single Pokemon in my possession"

At first both of them were silent. It was in there that Misty started laughing followed by Ash. The two friends let out their laughter for a few moments.

"To think . . ." Ash shook his head "The only thing needed to be a champion . . ."

"Was absolute stupidity" Misty finished and pair laughed harder.

They laughed until they ended up on the floor.

They laughed until Misty ended up coughing from laughing too much.

They laughed until Misty realized Ash wasn't laughing anymore.

They laughed until Misty wrapped her arms around Ash as he cried unto her shoulder.

Pikachu placed a tiny paw on his bestfriend's back patting it while also trying to hold the tears.

Misty hugged the young man tighter "Let it out, just let it out" she said softly into his ear "It'll be good for the both of us"

/

 **Please review.**


	2. Bard

**Word: Bard**

 **Song: We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift**

 **/**

It was the third time Misty did this. She would start it with a direct motive. She'd pick up the phone dial his number and be very sure that this was a simple act that was to be done. She'd wait for the phone to ring and she'd start composing of seven ways to say hi or think of going right at the topic at hand. By the time the person in the other line picks-up the phone all preparation will fly out the window.

She'd been at this for a week already.

Groaning she tossed her phone away after the failed third attempt. She did not care where it would land, her sisters filled their entire living room with plush pillow, fluffy carpets and even foamed walls. No way would anything break there.

"Ok, where's my fifty?" said a voice that would immediately bring irritation to the red head.

Misty decided not look at the person deciding to stare at the ceiling which had a mural of her three sisters dressed in their skimpiest of swimsuits "I decided to call by dinner"

"Then you'll let him brush his teeth first, then make him do his evening dump then wait for tomorrow morning before deciding that you don't know what to say anyway" Ash sighed then crashed in on the white couch next to his oldest friend "So just give me the fifty and you'll reduce your current problem by not having me annoy you"

She grit her teeth "I'm going to do it"

"When? When Godo(1) appears?" Ash asked.

"Hey, you said if I did it within this day" Misty pointed "The day is not over"

"And so is your relationship" he countered.

The gym leader winced "I curse the person who introduced you to sarcasm and dry humor"

"Self-loathing is very unhealthy Mist" Ash tapped her nose with his finger. "But if you want something else to blame, it's Monty Python"

Misty rolled her eyes "So are you just gonna Fearrow me all day and wait for me to give up?"

"The way you stated that was boring" the trainer thought for a moment "More like bask in your despair as you realize that your good friend was right and should be rewarded graciously for his sensibilities"

"The way you treat this situation does not prove your sensibility" she crossed her arms "You think what I'm doing here is easy? I've been with this guy for TWO YEARS!" she raised two fingers at his face almost poking him every time she needed emphasis "You can't just waste TWO YEARS!"

Ash backed away trying to avoid any optical injuries "Would you like to waste some more then?"

By now her hand had formed a fist "Would you want me to respond to that statement?"

"Preferably . . ." Ash gulped "Not with violence" he backed away going to the edge of the couch and placed a Spheal throw-pillow between them for good measure.

She lowered her fist and dropped her shoulders "Ending relationships is not an easy task Ash, you have several things to consider"

"Then I suggest you go take a lesson from all the women who rejected Brock" Ash then added as an after-thought "And I tell you, you won't have troubles looking for them"

"Brock never had a proper introduction much less of a relationship" she snorted.

The guy just shrugged. There was a minute of silence between them with Misty staring at anything in the room as if it would give her answers and Ash stroking his fingers on the sofa because it gave him a tingly feeling.

"Would you stop feeling the couch its weird" Misty said breaking the silence.

Feeling like a five year old being stopped by his teacher "Buuut its soooo sooooffft!" he whined.

"It's getting . . . a bit weird" she said not sure why she said it.

He then laid his head on the sofa and started stroking it like it was a Persian "No noooo" he shook his free finger "The softness must stay" he was also doing his best Gollum impression.

"Ash you're seventeen" Misty scolded "Act like it"

With one last pout the trainer sat properly and crossed his arms "I'm boooooorrrreeedddd!"

Rolling her eyes "Then why are you here?"

He faced her "Because I want my fifty"

Groaning and looking at the ceiling "Well you're not getting it till later" it was only after she said it that she realized what she said "I mean never"

"So you admit you can't do it" he said with a cheeky smile.

"I can do it, and I will do it" she kept her chin high "I'm just waiting for the proper moment"

"Which is him breaking up with you"

Misty glared at the boy "He's not gonna break up with me . . . again"

Ash raised his hands "Mist, it's getting tiring" he said in a slightly more serious tone "For two whole years you've been on again off again with this guy, who from your constant rants that I get from your letters and calls, is a grade A a-hole"

"Ok" Misty nodded slowly "Yes I did say that he has the tendency to think of himself more at certain times, and the fact that we hadn't seen each other for a month and he says we needed space"

"I'm starting to wonder if I see you more than you see him" Ash pondered "I'm half way around the world and he's half way across the block"

She placed her hands on her face "Oh Arceus I hate it when you're right"

"Are you sure about that?" he raised a brow.

"You're right" hands still on face "I'm pissed that you've been constantly right"

"Yay" Ash did a brief smile before he went back to business "So why do you still stay with him?"

She slowly dropped her hands from her face "I don't know"

"That's a load of Muk (2)" Ash stood up "You've been playing Mother Theresa here and you don't why"

She stared at him "I prefer Joan of Arc"

"Oh you want to be burned on holy fire? I'll go get your Gyrados then"

A small laugh escaped Misty's lips "He's romantic"

Ash blinked "He's what?"

"The reason why I liked him was because he was romantic" she sighed and leaned back against the couch "He would do these things you see done in romantic movies and he'd make you feel like you're a special girl"

"Ohhhh" Ash nodded slowly.

Continuing on her daydreams of romance "And whenever we had a fight, he would send me these poems, on a letter handwritten and well he got me there"

"Oh dear Moltres I forgot you were as hopeless as the rest of them" he turned to exit the living room "Where are they?"

"Where are what?" she asked.

"The poems"

"They're in my room" she blinked.

He paused for a moment "Are they in the box under your bed"

"Yes . . ." Misty stood up "How did you know . . ." before she knew it Ash was no longer there. "What would he do . . ."

She then saw Ash carry a small box heading outside of the house.

"Ash what are you doing!?" she chased the boy to the outside of the gym.

The said trainer looked around his surroundings looking for a spot. He decided to go for the spot right next to the fountain. Ash then dropped the box on the floor and brought out a PokeBall from his pocket.

Misty was standing from afar wondering what her friend was thinking.

"Talonflame I choose you!"

At this her eyes went wide "ASH WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" she ran over to the boy and the fire type.

Ash turned to her "I think it's about time you let go"

"ASH WHAT IF ITS LEAGUE DOCUMENTS YOU'RE BURNING THERE!" the gym leader growled taking the box away from him.

The raven head placed his hands on his hips "Misty, how stupid do you think I am?"

"Very if you're pulling this kind of stunt" she hugged the box tighter.

"Misty, I know very well you keep your paperwork in your office" he crossed his arms "Because you hate looking at them so much I know you would banish them the house altogether much less your room"

The red head gulped "Well what if this is the overtime . . . work?"

"Then why don't we open the box" Ash took off the lid of the box and tossed it.

Misty quickly turned away "You already know what's in the box!" she grabbed the lid closed the box and held unto the thing like it was the Ark of the Covenant.

"I really don't" he then brought out a tiny piece of paper "Which was why I took out a sample"

Misty stared at the piece of paper in Ash's hands "Give that . . ."

"Beauty and love are all my dream; they change not with the changing day" he recited what was written on the paper "Lover stays forever like a stream, that flows but never flows away(3)"

"Give. That. Back." The red head growled.

"Weird this looks more like you're handwriting" he held the paper against the sun "Don't tell me you guys are those kinds of couples who even copy each other's handwriting"

She tried to snatch the paper from his hands but it was deemed a little difficult due to the fact that Ash stood tall at 6'2 with Misty herself being only 5'7. "ASH GIVE IT BACK!"

He raised his hand up high so as he read the other contents of the paper "Don't tell me you've been writing love notes to yourself"

Jumping her highest "Would you stop it with the invasion of privacy already!"

Ash backed away "Wait a minute" he lowered his hand just enough that gave Misty the opportunity to snatch it "There's a Dear Ash here"

She crumpled the piece of paper "That . . . was a scrap paper"

He looked at the box then at Misty "That seemed like one fancy piece of scrap"

"You know how my sisters like to over-do everything" Misty tried to sound casual "Even the stationary is fancy"

"Talon?" the ignored bird Pokémon decided to voice out that he was there.

This made both teenagers jump, Ash felt bad for bringing out the bird for nothing and decided to make the Pokémon look for Pikachu instead. (Since Ash was starting to wonder where his buddy headed off the moment he stepped into the Cerulean gym).

In the midst of Ash's distraction Misty tried to head back to the gym and put the box just where it was supposed to be, right under her bed. "I can't believe he even got into my room that easily" the red head muttered.

"HEY! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!" Ash yelled and ran after Misty blocking her way into the gym.

"ASH! COULD YOU JUST DROP IT!?"

"Not until you drop the box"

"Well I don't plan on doing so!"

Ash sighed "Seriously Misty what ever happened to your strong will?"

"Right here, protecting whatever's left of my personal space!"

He paused for a moment "Good one"

"I know now please just let me pass so I could throw this box into a fire"

He gave her a confused look "Wait, didn't you just stop me a while back earlier from burning that thing?"

"Now tell me why you wanted to burn this thing in the first place!" she swears she's going to get a sore throat tonight from all this yelling she'd been doing.

"Well because I thought that whatever was in that box was stuff that reminded you of Jeff, and I assumed if I destroyed them then you wouldn't feel an attachment to him and then you wouldn't well . . . have second thoughts breaking up with him" he sighed after saying all that.

The gym leader stared at him with slightly widened eyes ". . . Why . . . would you do that?"

Ash opened his mouth as if to say something then thought better of it, closed his mouth then rubbed his chin wondering indeed why he would go so far as to burn things that reminded Misty of her boyfriend, that seemed like crossing the line a little too much despite the stature of their friendship.

"Well?" Misty asked waiting for an answer.

Opening his mouth, closing then opening again "I don't . . . like seeing you sad . . ."

It wasn't quite hot in Cerulean compared to the islands of Alola, Ash noted. Despite this though he found himself sweating, he did not know why though. Usually he sweated whenever he was nervous during a battle and his Pokémon were getting injured badly. But this wasn't a battle, he was just facing Misty. His dear old friend Misty. The same Misty who abused him with a mallet. The same Misty who would go hook or by crook just to catch a cute water Pokémon.

Hmm . . . he was probably anticipating the mallet.

"Why did you think I was sad?" she spoke, her voice soft and she was looking at the box avoiding his gaze.

He blinked. Oh good no mallet. It had been such a long since the last hit he wasn't prepared for such an attack. "Umm . . ."

"Do you think that I'm the type of girl who would cry in the corner just for some snotty rich kid?" she wasn't shouting but her voice was definitely louder than her whisper earlier.

He shook his head "No no no, it's not that" he gulped "I just . . . well you're not miserable with him . . . but you're also not happy with him"

Misty gave his words a thought. Jeff may be what every other girl would fantasize over; he was good-looking, rich, and romantic with all that jazz. But for some reason she wasn't happy, she wasn't sad either.

She was bored with him.

"Hold this" she shoved Ash the box and brought out her PokeGear.

Ash took the box without complaints as he watched Misty walk away with the phone in her ear. She walked for a few steps, raised her head to the sky, then looked down; she kicked her foot at an imaginary rock then lifted her head up again.

He couldn't hear the conversation that much. He didn't know why out of all the times it was now when the Rocket Construction Agency choose this time to start drilling a hole right in front of the gym. It was just outright ridiculous even and Ash wondered why Misty went closer to the construction sound than farther. It was as though she didn't want to hear whatever her boyfriend was saying.

He could see a couple of Pidgeotto flying away from the noise and Ash couldn't help but wince at the sound of the jackhammer. After deciding that he wasn't a noise masochist like Misty he retreated to the gym hoping to give his ears a break.

"Better return this before Misty kills me with borrowed construction equipment" he then went up the stairs and was almost there when all of a sudden Pikachu came running pass him. He almost tripped if he didn't hold unto the wall.

"Pikachu! What's the . . ." before he could say anything Talonflame came flying over and in an attempt to avoid the bird Ash slipped and fell down the stairs.

In the midst of his fall Ash threw the box into the air sending the papers flying. If you were to watch his fall in slow motion the thrown away papers created a beautiful effect like giant snowflakes or confetti that declared the arrival of Talonflame. Even Pikachu couldn't help but stand in awe at the beautiful scene.

It all ended with one loud 'thump'. And a crack. And a little groan. Which was followed by a barrage of curse words from Ash due to the fact that his back was starting to hurt like hell.

A piece of paper then floated around and landed on his face.

"Pika?" the yellow rodent went over to his owner poking his chest.

Talonflame on the other hand looked guilty from injuring the trainer.

Ash then sat up removing the piece of paper that landed on his face and gave a closer look at what was written.

"This definitely isn't about Jeff"

/

She had finally done it.

Honestly Misty wondered why she even had a problem doing it in the first place. Sure the guy was obviously angered by her decision to end their relationship, and she was sure that in the following days he would use various ways to get back together.

But right now Misty was basking in a moment of triumph. She finally told him what she found wrong in their relationship, finally got mad at him and finally gave him a piece of her mind.

Maybe she should start burning all his gifts.

She entered the gym "Guess what Ketchum!" she waved her PokeGear in the air "I finally did it!" she placed her hands on her hips "So it's you who owes me the fifty!"

She got no reply from the raven head trainer and she assumed he was either sulking in the corner because of her victory or devouring everything in her fridge.

Sighing the woman went around the gym looking for the boy. After seeing no signs of him (or a challenger lucky for her) she headed for the house portion of the gym.

"Ash!" Misty called peeping into the kitchen finding it empty "Now where . . . wait" she then remembered that she had given him the box earlier. "Oh Arceus!" by this she was running around the house looking around every room ready to murder the boy.

"ASH KETCHUM SHOW YOU SHOW YOUR BLOODY FACE HERE RIGHT NOW!" her face was flushing, both from running around and embarrassment.

It was when she reached her room that all her fears were confirmed.

Ash was seated on her bed, the box was on his left side and on his right were stacked papers and notes. As of the moment he was reading another note in his hand.

Immediately Misty snatched the note from his hand "HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF PRIVACY!?"

Immediately Ash looked up "I was reading that"

She looked at the pile next to him "Don't tell me your read all of that?!"

"Yup" he nodded "At first I thought these were collections of poems cause I saw a Dante(4) one earlier then as I got deeper I noticed how . . . they seemed to be getting more specific"

Crumpling the paper in her hand and closing her eyes "How many did you read?"

"I read the 'Bike Snatcher' the 'Idiot Savant' the 'Moonlight Festival' and . . ." he paused for a moment pointing at the crumpled paper in her hands "I Should Have Stayed"

Sighing she uncrumpled the paper in her hands. She stared at her handwriting. "You know . . . I wrote this the night I got back here"

Ash was looking at her.

"It's weird really. I stared at the bike actually hating it. I thought that it was the one thing the broke us apart, even though it practically did the opposite" she sat next to him and flattened the paper on her lap "You see the smudges here on the third verse? That was when I started crying, which I did quite a lot in the first week. I didn't really notice it at first but then the paper started to get soggy."

He just stared at her.

"I tried sending you one cause my sisters tell me I'm a lost cause" she snorted "But then I told them that you probably wouldn't get it anyway, and I assumed that . . . well you wouldn't feel the same way"

Ash bit his lip.

Misty refused to look at him.

Ash stared at Misty's door as if something was so interesting about the baby blue colored door.

Misty tapped her foot fast thinking she probably ruined her friendship with Ash at this point.

He called her name.

She refused to look.

He called her again.

This time she looked.

He took a deep breath "So . . . it's over . . . with him . . . this time?"

Without skipping a beat "Yes . . . it is"

"What about with me?"

She had a very long answer to that.

/

 **Waiting for Godo was a play about two men waiting for a man named Godo who never appears.**

 **Pokémon version of "That's a load of shit" which I assumed you understood. I'm not saying Muk is the dirtiest Pokémon but his stench seems to have quite a reputation. Which is why I pity Professor Oak who is victim to all of his loving hugs.**

 **Poem Ash reads is Beauty and Love by Andrew Young.**

 **Ash knows Dante because in my head he's part-Italian and he has a grandma who forced him to read the entirety of Inferno in Italian.**

 **Review Replies:**

 **Eevee: Sorry for the grammar. I'll try to fix them as much as I can. Gary will appear in the next chapter I promise.**

 **Please Review.**


	3. Carnation

Word: Carnation

Song: I Do by Colbie Calliat

/

Daisy Oak's marriage to Sunnyshore City gym leader Volkner Shock was an event to behold. Every newspaper, gossip reporter and podcaster surrounded the tiny town of Pallet for the event. Despite being a small sleepy town the residents of Pallet were very used to the media's sudden bash into their town. It didn't help that a few of the most popular League personalities were from there.

As per usual the residents were to cover their blinds from the flashing of cameras, prepare made-up statements in case of interviews, sprinklers in case the paparazzi were messing with their rutabagas and poisoned pumpkin pie for the tabloid people.

"I can't believe you guys poison people on a regular basis" Misty stated as she saw Delia placed the final touches on her laxative lemon pie.

The woman removed her mittens "Those pests need to be taken care off, especially those from the Kanto Inquirer" she gave the young girl a smile "Didn't they write an article about you skinny dipping in the Cerulean Cove with the Cinnabar Island gym leader?"

At this the red head couldn't help but cringe "Oh please Delia, don't remind me about that one" she had never felt so much goose bumps from an article other than that. "Honestly, where did they even get the idea?! I haven't even hung around the cove in ages and they hook me up with Blaine of all people!? I rather have a passionate love affair with Sabrina at this case"

"I knew you were a lesbian!" both women turned to see the face of the oh so famous third generation Oak "It explains how such a hot chick can turn down my inescapable charms"

Misty rolled her eyes at this "Dream on Gary" she then eyed the pie "Wanna grab some pie?"

"Nice try Red" Gary winked "Mrs. Ketchum makes a very mean lemon pie, actually makes you stand by the toilet for a week"

"A girl can dream" the red head sighed.

"Maybe a dream about me perhaps?" the young researcher said leaning against the kitchen island near Misty "But maybe we can make this fantasy into a reality"

Misty looked at him completely appalled "Dear Moltres of Holy Fire you're even worse than Brock"

"Watch your language young lady" Delia scolded good-naturedly "We don't want Moltres to come down and burn you"

"Who's getting burned down?" Ash came into the kitchen yawning wearing a tight black shirt and green Garbodor pajamas. He then faced Gary rubbing his head which looked like it was hit by a tornado "What are you doing here?"

Gary stood up straight and smirked at his friend "Sis says that I need to reintroduce how a civilized society works"

"Oh . . ," Ash nodded before blinking "Hey! Kalos is not a barren wasteland!"

"Then why is it that you look like you've come from worst" Gary crossed his arms "I mean seriously when you came back yesterday I swore you just crawled out from a wild pack of Meganium or something"

Leering Ash replied "There are no Meganium in Kalos"

"Huh, I knew they thought backwards for a reason" Gary snorted.

"That's enough you two" Delia said sighing "Honestly you two are almost twenty and yet you two still act like kids"

Rubbing the back of his head "Sorry mom"

"And Ash" Delia rose a brow at her son "Don't you have someone else to acknowledge in this room?"

Again the Pokémon trainer looked confusingly at his mother before spotting a certain gym leader at the end of the kitchen island who was looking awkwardly at him. "Holy crap Misty!" the boy yelled.

Misty suddenly became self-conscious of herself. She definitely wasn't the skinny tomboy that he used to travel with. She no longer wore ponytails as she now sported a pixie cut which emphasized her facial features. She was currently wearing a sleeveless V-neck blouse that showed off a bit of her cleavage, a leather pencil skirt, black stockings and black boots.

She really hated it when her sisters raid her wardrobe and change it to skimpy clothing like what she wore now.

Ignoring her awkward silence Ash spread wide his arms, his carefree persona definitely still present after all these years "Come over here I haven't seen you since forever!"

Gary covered his nose "I don't think a lady like her would wanna be near your BO"

"You're just jealous because I smell oh so natural" Ash countered "Not like that nauseating body spray you always wear"

"At least you know what I smell like" Gary smirked still holding his nose "For all we know you could be sprayed on with eau de Muk shit"

Delia groaned once again at the teenagers used of foul language "Why do I even bother" and with that she decided to go tend to find Mimey so that they could tend the garden where she would be surrounded by the beautiful sounds of the singing Pidgey rather than vulgar words sprayed up and about.

Misty was still sat on her seat wondering if she should go ahead and hug the boy. She didn't expect him to greet her like that, as he'd said they haven't been in each other's presence for that long. Sure they chat every once in a while online when Ash actually gets WiFi connection and remembers his PokéBook password (he's had seven accounts because of this). But that also was far and between; this was the actual first time that they've seen each other face to face since he dropped her off in Cerulean when he was still competing in the Kanto Battle Frontier.

The raven head frowned at her hesitance "Come on Mist, don't leave me hanging here"

"Save it Ashy-boy she can't handle your _natural_ charm anymore" Gary teased.

At this the gym leader stood up "It's your charm I can't handle Oak" she then went over to her old friend "Sorry, I just don't know . . ." she was cut off when Ash enveloped her in a big Bewear hug.

"Aww, come on Mist" he hugged her tighter as though he was trying to make up for lost time "You know no matter how slutty your clothes are you're still a scrawny tomboy to me"

Her face was on his chest and she could definitely smell the woodsy scent that came from all the traveling he's been "You take that back Ketchum" she looked up at him her arms hitting his chest "I still have my mallet"

/

"So how was suit fitting with Gary" Misty asked later that day after the boy had come back from Viridian for a fitting.

Ash groaned "I already have a suit but nooooo, they demand I get a new one" Ash threw his shoes somewhere in the house and saw Misty in the living room full of flowers. "I asked if they got those bullet proof stuff like in John Wick but the tailor gave me a weird look"

"Pipipika pi" Pikachu got off his master's shoulder and went over the redhead who was currently arranging flowers on the couch.

"Well technically what Daisy wanted was a tux" she gave the yellow rodent a rub on the head "Aww, I haven't seen you in ages as well"

"Chaaa" the starter cooed.

"Suit, tux, same thing. They both choke my neck either way" he was about to collapse on the couch when Misty spanked his butt.

"ASH! Don't sit on the carnations!" she scolded.

Pikachu also jumped at the read head's sudden actions.

Rubbing his slightly sore bottom "You could have just yelled no hanky panky"

At this the red head realized what she just did "If I didn't do it you would have crushed the flowers" she was blushing the second time that day.

Ash stared at the stalk of pink flowers "Why did you put them in the couch then"

"As you can see" she waved her hand at the several other flowers stocked on the coffee table "The table is a bit occupied"

Groaning the trainer poked his finger at one of the orchids "Why did you turn this room into a tropical sanctuary?"

"I thought you loved nature" Misty said cutting stems, Pikachu was next to her catching the fallen stems into a bowl (where he got the bowl and what he plans to do with the stems remains another Pikachu Mystery).

"I do, but I've live long through enough end of the world disasters that too much is too much" and with that Ash sneezed at the pollen. "See what I mean" he rubbed his nose.

The read head rolled her eyes and resumed her cutting "As careful as always"

He eyed the girl "I could say the same for you, are you sure you won't get any pollen on your . . . chest" if he said anything more adult that bust Ash was sure the flowers would not be used for a wedding but rather his own funeral.

The gym leader snapped a stem and gave Ash a look that made him gulps and Pikachu shake his head at his stupid master's expense.

"I'm wearing a bra, I'm not as daring as my sister's to go bare" she said calmly then proceeded back to her cutting.

Blinking "But you're still a little . . . underdressed . . ." he needed a thesaurus if he wanted to keep up with the generic words he was using.

Again she paused then stared at her chest then back at the flower "I might have caught on pollen already, I've been during this since Gary took you to Viridian"

"I didn't know carnations had pollen" he said picking up one from the vase.

"All flowers have pollen" Misty raised a brow "You should know this from all the times you got sick from them"

He lowered the pink flower "Mist that was one time. And mine was a special case. It wasn't an ordinary flower; it was one big Villeplume using Stun Spore!"

Chuckling to herself "I wouldn't be surprised if you encountered similar events during your travels"

Raising a finger "I rather not comment on that"

"Glad to know you finally know manners"

"Oh please I know manners; I just use it when I'm talking to proper ladies"

"I take it back; you're a rude barbarian as ever"

"And you're the amazona who'll kill us all"

Misty snorted.

"What? You're gonna torture us before you kill us?" Ash raised a brow "You really don't have mercy do you?"

"Not that" she put down her scissors, taking a much needed break "Just thought of . . . you know how easy it is to talk to you again"

Ash got a little taken back by her comment "Since when did I become hard to talk to? Not unless you suddenly went posh on me while I was gone and I really am a barbeque to you"

"Barbarian" Misty corrected.

Not caring one bit about the correction "I'm pretty sure they invented barbeque either way"

"No they did not . . ." she cut herself from going on an explanation on the difference between Europeans and Americans "Anyway, I'm not being posh. I'm just saying I thought it was going to be a little . . . awkward talking to you since we hadn't seen each other face to face in such a long time."

Ash stood in front of the girl and bent down to look at her "You know to be honest I kinda felt the same."

Her eyes widened in surprise "You did?"

"Yeah . . . I mean . . . look at you" he raised his hands awkwardly when Misty gave him a look "I mean I don't mean it in a very . . . not clean way . . . I'm just saying you're all grown up now. You're starting to look like you're sisters and from what I read in League Pass Weekly you're one of the top gym leaders in Indigo right now." He panted from saying all of that "So yeah, I was kinda worried that you might have changed a bit and we wouldn't have the same 'Are to' 'Are not' banter we had as kids"

She eyed the boy . . . almost grown man in front of her. She really didn't think that the idiot who fried her bike so long ago would turn into the idiot bestfriend she now had in front of her. "You know in a way we kinda did change"

"Well yeah . . ." he shrugged "I'm taller than you"

She automatically pouted at this "Yes . . . you did"

Ash chuckled "For a moment there I thought you were gonna deny it"

"You're practically six inches taller than me!" she stood up and waved her hand showing just how large their height gap was "And to think I'm actually taller that most people in my family"

"Not your fault you have midget genes"

"I do not"

"Yes you do"

"Not"

"To"

"No . . ." Misty smiled and pointed at him "You intentionally did that didn't you?"

"Do what?" Ash asked confusingly.

She waved her hand never mind. She then picked up the vase of carnations "Come on, we gotta do dinner rehearsals remember?"

"Oh don't remind me" he groaned following her out of the living room "Hey Mist"

She turned around "Yes"

"Do you know which bridesmaid I'm supposed to be paired with?" he scratched his head "Like, I only knew I was a groomsmen this morning"

Misty was glad she had her back faced at him or he could have seen her furious blush "Umm . . . it's me . . ."

"Oh cool" Ash nodded taking the information quite calmly "Does that mean we walk the aisle together?"

"Umm . . . yeah?" she faced him unsurely.

With a smile on his face "That's awesome, it'll be great practice!"

At this Misty's eyes went wide as saucers. _Since when did he become this forward?,_ she thought. ". . . .Uhh . . . practice for what?"

"For when Brock and Tracy get married" he said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world "I mean . . . not Brock marrying Tracy . . . I mean they're both straight . . . what I meant was being married separately." He paused "Not like I would well stop them if they ever got married to each other, I have totally nothing against choosing what you believe in . . ."

Misty let out a breath. Just how hopeless was he?

/

 **Sorry if this was late. Recently had exams.**

 **Evee: Glad you like the last chapter. Gary didn't have much screen time as you thought probably sorry. I hope this was a witty as the last one. I appreciate your reviews very much.**

 **Review.**


	4. Damsel

Word: Damsel

Song: One Night by Matthew Koma

/

Professor Oak was happily giving the newlywed couple a charming speech about marriage, children, life and how to win the argument about the toilet seat. People would think of this as aged old wisdom but to most close friends of the respected man it was clear that he had too much fruit wine.

The guests would laugh at the Professor, some for his charming speech and jokes, some for how funny he looked drunk, at some at the bitter irony that Oak himself had a failed marriage that brought tension to their family for quite some time (though that might be mentioned some other time as it is not only inappropriate but quite embarrassing).

Daisy, the said professsor's granddaughter and also the bride of the event, had a face that showed both amusement at the old man but some sort of pitiful shame for the old man. Despite this obvious discomfort, she looked quite radiant in her Guipure Lace, Embroidered Tulle, and Organza Wedding Dress. The dress had a long sleeve bodice with yoke and sleeves in Nude Tulle and sweetheart neckline on lining. Scattered with Guipure Lace appliqués along the bodice and sleeves. Fabric belt at waist and side pockets. Full circle skirt in Embroidered Tulle finished with 4" Mawile hair edging on hem. The dress was designed by famous Kalos fashion designer Valerie Mache.

Among the guests seated on the table with the rest of the bridesmaids who all wore black chiffon gowns was Misty, who was trying so hard to draw herself out of the conversation her fellow bridesmaids were having.

"Oh this floral playsuit is so all the range" said one of the maids whom she would call Stacy, because that seemed like the perfect name for a blonde bimbo with a valley girl cockney accent "I like saw Jasmine, you know the Olivine City gym leader?"

Her friend, another blonde though he hair was slightly lighter than one shade and her voice sounder lower and dumber than Stacy. Misty decided to name her uhh . . . Alice? Marsha? Claudia? Meg. Yes let's go with Meg.

So Meg rolled her eyes at Stacy "Umm duhh, I so totally know who Jasmine is" she waved her hand dismissively "Like I so totally don't get it what people see in her, like yeah"

"Oh my goooossssh Meg" Stacy drawled her 'gosh' after being appalled by her friend "She's like so fashion forward, like the paparazzi were following her everywhere in Seafoam Islands"

"You totally have no life, I've seen way better with Fantina in her bathing suit" again rolling her eyes exaggeratingly "That's cone bra is way more fashion forward than floral"

Stacy then snorted in reply "You clearly have no taste, that cone bra was so 2009"

"Well floral is seventies" Meg flipped her hair.

"Well retro is the new uhhh metro or something, like it's hot right now"

Misty downed what she assumed was her third glass of damassine in the past hour, why oh why did she have to get the table with these . . . airheads? Well it did not help that she wasn't exactly that deep into Daisy Oak's social circle, she may be friends with the bride but everyone else was a stranger to her. Misty swore that the number of people she knew in the room could be counted using one hand.

Any reasonable person would have told Misty that she could just leave the table and save herself from another pilgrimage of hearing about how retro Stacy was. But Misty was engrained with manners from both her grandmother and older sister regarding the etiquette during weddings, mainly do not leave said table when speeches by immediate family are being delivered. Misty didn't know if this unspoken rule was an actual rule or some hullabaloo her sister and grandma made up so she wouldn't run around during the reception when she was a little girl.

But she respected Professor Oak and decided to sit in throughout his speech, even though she could hardly even hear it.

"Hey aren't you like . . . uhh the gym leader around here or something" said Meg who was inappropriately poking her bare back which was exposed because of the stupid design of the stupid dress.

Misty held in a groan but didn't smile to face Meg either "Yes, I am a gym leader from the Kanto area."

At the Meg laugh "Told ya Stace, she's not a nobody"

"Yeah right" Stacy rolled her eyes "And what like gym do you like . . . um lead?"

Misty swears she needs something stronger to get through this night "I'm the leader of the Cerulean gym , you know, the one with water? And like a biiig giant pool"

It took a moment for Stacy to register it to her brain before she nodded slowly "Oh yeeah, you mean like the sensational sisters?"

 _Oh great Ho-oh why have you forsaken me_ , Misty thought "Yes, I am one of the sensational sisters"

"No you're not" Stacy again rolled her eyes, like it was the only thing she was capable of doing as a human specie "Like you . . . so don't look like them . . . they've got like . . ." she then proceeded to hold her own double D chest which were obviously not touched by an angel "Nothing in here"

Making a very strained smile which could be seen in serial killers who've had enough of their very dumb victim "Well apparently that part skipped me sadly"

"Oh come one Stace . . ." Meg waved her hand "Don't be soo hard on her, after all she's just had a sex change, maybe boobs will come like later"

The red head clenched unto her wine glass and was taking a LOT of WILL POWER to stop herself from bursting their silicon chests with said wine glass.

"Ohh my gooosh" Stacy turned her attention elsewhere "Like Meg, who's that guy over at the bar?"

"Stace, it's the bartender" Meg turned to where Stacy was pointed then gasped "Oh my gosh that guy sitting over the bar is cute"

"Like that's the guy I was talking about earlier!" Stacy whined.

"No you weren't, you pointing at the ugly bartender" Meg cocked her head to get a better view of the guy "He looks so familiar"

"I know right?"

Misty for some reason decided to see indeed who was the latest fascination of the two knuckleheads, only for her to gulp when she realized who he was.

"Oh my gosh now I remember, it's Ketchup!"

Meg hit Stacy in the face (probably playfully but that slap was quite hard) "Get your facts straight Stace, that's Catchit!"

"No it's Ketchup! You know Gary's best friend?" Meg seemed unharmed by the violence that took place earlier.

"Exactly it's Catchit!"

"It's Ketchup!"

"Catchit!"

"It's Ash" Misty butted in before drinking directly from the damassine bottle, not caring if anyone wanted any.

At this both blonde's turned to Misty and blinked quite dumbly before looking at themselves and saying at the same time "No it's not its Jeffrey!"

At this Misty spat the alcohol from her mouth, in a very unlady like fashion.

/

The reception seemed to be going on a little too long for Ash's taste. He had eaten dinner, twice. Ok maybe thrice but no one seemed to be bothered by it. Had a chat with most Oak members that he knew including: Uncle Ben who seems to almost be in the hospital, Sir Elton who recently bought an apartment for his unborn child, Aunt May who seems to be getting younger every time Ash sees her, Madame Donna the one who abandoned her brother under the bridge and cousin K who claims yet again to be Arceus in human form.

He even played several rounds of three card brag with Gary and Volkner's cousins, Ash lost most times because he didn't the rules and decided to retreat before he lost any more money in the process.

Pikachu was currently still playing and from the sounds of groans coming from the table he could assume that the electric mouse had won yet again. So now Ash was by the bar waiting for his Pisco sour as well as for the party to just be done and over.

He felt very uncomfortable in the suit, mainly because of the tie because it was slowly killing him. He was currently dressed in a charcoal grey wool-mohair-silk blend notched lapel two-piece suit, he had a fedora on because he didn't really want to go through all the trouble of taming his hair with hair gel (it was such a struggle that even Gary gave up and just gave Ash lard).

"This is gonna take forever" the trainer then scanned the reception area; as of now former Elite Four member and Samuel Oak's ex-wife, Agatha Kikuko, was giving a speech on how her granddaughter should forget all the things the professor said earlier because it was those same things that ruined their marriage in the first place.

And this was the reason why Gary would very much like to remain a bachelor as much as possible, or until his grandparents become incapable of speech.

Having seen these awkward encounters several times in the course of his friendship with the Oaks, Ash decided to avert his attention to the guests. He could spot his mother instantly, dressed in a vermillion colored Alexander Wang ladder stitch gown, which Ash remembered spending a thousand or so PokeCoins on. He still thinks why such clothing were expensive then he remembered how much Dawn, May and Serena spent on their Pokémon and came to the conclusion that the fashion industry is a very greedy business.

Ash could also see Tracy awkwardly trying to turn down the advances of Volknier's gay uncle, whom Ash forgot what his name was, he seemed like a cool guy and didn't really think much of his sexuality and even played along with the man when he flirted with him.

His eyes then went over to the bridesmaid table and he raised his brow when he noticed that almost all the girls had blond hair. This was weird because during the wedding he swore there was one or two brunettes as well; either the lighting was bad or his vision was getting bad again.

What caught the raven head's attention though was the sight of the single red head on the table, who was clenching unto a bottle of wine, had a very disgusted look on her face, and this may seem irrelevant but she looked quite hot.

"Sir your drink" said the bartender presenting Ash with his pisco sour.

Grabbing his drink Ash left the bar and made a beeline for the young gym leader's table. After doing weird gestures getting through the ocean of tables and almost spilling his drink on a rich lady's Charcjabug, he finally reached Misty.

He tried to sneak over behind Misty and surprise her from behind, he thought he was being smooth but if the woman wasn't already preoccupied being pissed at the blondes then she would have noticed him either way.

"Hey Mist!" Ash placed a hand on her shoulder which made the red head not only stop growling but look behind her in surprise.

At this there were two blondes who gasped at him "Oh my gosh! It's Ketchup!"

"For the last time Kim!" said the other blonde who was lighter by one shade "It's Catchit!"

Immediately Misty took the drink Ash had in his hand, drank it all in one shot, slammed it on the table and pulled Ash's collar "Take me away from here" she seethed.

Ash blinked for a moment, seeming confused at whatever was happening in the table "Uhh, but I just got here"

"Just do it!" she clenched tighter unto his collar "Or else I'll get my mallet"

The raven head snorted "Oh fine" he then helped Misty up who apparently now couldn't use her legs because of all the alcohol she'd been consuming through the night. "Gosh Mist since when did you sudden gain ten pounds"

In reply Misty hit his ribs "Dat's nat watcha say ta a ladeh!"

Rolling his eyes "Oh please, you're not a damsel to begin with"

/

 **This was written under four hours.**

 **Thank you PokeshipperByHeart I'm sorry for the delay.**

 **Also thank you to NeoXen7 & The Isle of Misfit Toys for following.**


	5. Effort

Word: Effort

Song: Holocene by Bon Iver

* * *

"I'll call you later" Misty said hanging up on her sister ignoring whatever protests the older girl made. She threw her phone not minding where it landed in her spacious flat.

It was considered spacious due to the fact that there wasn't much furniture to fill the space. The apartment came in with a dead beat grey couch, a faded white book shelf that was slowly falling apart, the duty gas stoves in the kitchen and the surprisingly clean toilet and shower in the bathroom. The stuff Misty added to the place was the blue Horsea rug, two pokeball plushies (one in which she uses to sleep on), and her clothes and other personal items.

She slept on the floor because she didn't have enough money to buy a mattress and the old bed that came with the place was now a Wurmple nest, and the mother Dustox did not look like she wanted to share.

Her stuff was strewed around the place; she would pick her clothes on the floor before she went out and threw them when she came home. There was a pile of Chinese and pizza takeouts that needed to be thrown but abandoned by either laziness of forgetfulness.

If one were to come in they would wonder if she was a crack addict or a homeless person, both which Misty had arguments for. She wasn't a crack addict but she admits alcoholism, she's not a homeless person but if she doesn't pay the rent by the end of the month she will be.

One would wonder why she did this to herself. Back in Cerulean she had a proper bed to sleep in, there was actual food in the fridge, there weren't bug Pokémon hiding the corners of the house and there were people who actually worried about here. Unlike here in Rusboro where she was completely alone, sure she knew some people but merely by their occupation (like convenience store guy, nurse joy, officer jenny and homeless guy Nick).

Now why did Misty come here? She actually didn't know either. No she did know, she knew very well but her damn pride made her deny it. It was naivety that brought her there and it was stubbornness that made her stay.

It was currently 2 am in the morning; she didn't know what day it was. For all she knew Sunday was not much different from a Thursday. She was on the floor as usual, her blanket covering her and a laptop on the floor playing Mulberry. An old British show about a Grim Reaper who seemed to be too nice to the people who he was sending into to the afterlife.

"Wonder when the Grim Reaper will take me" the redhead wondered aloud. It was a cold night that morning and Misty felt it as the strong winds entered her apartment. The girl shivered and groaned, cursing herself for drunkenly burning her clothes one night a few weeks ago. She stood up from her spot, blanket still wrapped around her, to close that damn window.

As she closed the window Misty took notice of her neighbor. Right across her own flat was another flat owned by some guy. Whenever she passed by the window she would see the guy and for some reason she would stop and stare at what this particular person was doing.

His window was quite large, almost the size of one seen in a shopping mart. This was why Misty could usually see whatever this particular man was doing and the rest of his living room along with it. The young man seemed to be her age, well she assumed, she never really saw him in person. From what she knew he had dark black hair that was quite messy he almost looked like an anime character due to how the spikes went everywhere, she could tell he was quite tanned, and by using the lamp that both the man and she had Misty had assumed he was at least a head taller that her.

She knew that this guy had more furniture than her; in fact his living room looked like something out of an Ikea display. She could tell that the door on the right led to his bedroom and the door on his left went to the bathroom. She knew that he spent his evenings either playing video games, chasing his Pikachu around the house, entertaining his mother who comes once every two weeks, sketching, or playing drinking games with his best friends who come on Fridays where they pass out on various places on said living room.

Misty did not know why she loved to monitor this person's movements.

Currently the said neighbor was watching tv with his feet up in the sofa, his Pikachu snugly rested on his knee and a box of popcorn next to him.

"Why does he make living alone look so easy" she pondered aloud. She then turned back to her spot in front of her laptop and went on watching the old British show till she fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning Misty felt something crawl unto her leg. At first she did not budge, wanting to continue her dream of having a nice house, with a picket fence, a perfect lawn along with a perfect husband wearing a nice white sweater with matching children wearing polka-dot dresses and a tiny version of the nice white sweater.

The thing continued to crawl and by now the redhead was getting annoyed, eyes still closed she jerked her leg to hopefully get rid of the thing. After several attempts she assumed it was gone as the tingling feeling on her legs stopped.

She sunk deeper into her dream where she was also wearing a polka-dot dress and preparing her picture perfect family lunch. It was only here when the lunch suddenly turned into something disgusting and left both dream Misty and real Misty screaming.

Misty finally opened her eyes and it was in here where she found out what was crawling on her leg.

A Wurmple.

Misty gulped.

The bug Pokémon stared.

What followed was a loud scream it was probably heard throughout the entire block.

* * *

Pikachu's head perked up at the sound of a loud scream. He was currently outside waiting for his owner when he heard it. The electric mouse cocked his head as if considering if he should do something about it, only for the scream to be heard again.

"Wonder where that yelling is coming from?" Pikachu turned to see his owner step out of their building with a piece of toast in his mouth.

"Pika . . ." Pikachu pointed at the apartment across them "Pipika pipi ka Chu"

The raven head pulled the toast from his mouth "Do you think we should check it out?"

Before Pikachu would consider it out of the building came a girl, dressed only in pink shorts and a blue tank top, running around in the cold morning of February. Her red hair was a total mess and for a moment Ash wondered if she was one of those Banshees his mother used to tell stories about when he was a child.

The red head girl was running around, completely ignoring the cold, with a tiny Wurmple stuck unto her leg holding on for a ride.

It was already 9 in the morning so there were more than a couple of people outside. Several eyes aside from Ash and Pikachu were watching this strange girl trying to remove the bug Pokémon from her leg.

"Hey, isn't that . . . the weird hobo chick who lives in room #6?" Ash turned around to see Roxanne who had a cup of coffee in her hand.

Ash raised a brow "Weird hobo chick?"

"Well according to Nurse Joy there's this girl from Kanto who came to live with her boyfriend a few months ago. She tried to surprise him by coming here but the guy never showed up. The girl then found out a few weeks later that he was marrying another girl from Littleroot Town and since then she'd been living in said boyfriend's abandoned apartment." Roxanne took a sip from her drink.

Ash blinked "How many nurse Joy's did you ask?"

Roxanne thought for a moment "About four, they really like to gossip those Joys"

The red head girl was still screaming and Ash noticed that no one seemed to be helping her, some even looked away and went back to their own business. "Umm . . . maybe I should . . ." before Ash could get any closer he felt Roxanne's hand on his shoulder.

"Don't try" the girl said "She's got quite a reputation, I heard from Officer Jenny that she once burned her clothes right in front of Devon Corp. and did a lap dance of the fountain"

Ash looked doubtful "You're serious?"

"Oh that's only the tip of the ice burg. When the officers tried to apprehend her she . . . peed on them." Roxanne raised her palms at Ash's incredulous look "Don't believe me look it up on PokeTube. The crazy girl spent around two days in the slammer and all she did was scratched the walls and wail."

"I think she has a problem" Ash turned to the crazy red head girl.

"One of the Nurse Joy's tried to get her in some institute but the damn girl knew how to hide" Roxanne rubbed her chin "I think she has more than a lot of problems"

"I think she needs our help"

"Ash!" Roxanne waved her hands "Have you not listened to a single word I said? People have tried to help her! The landlord of the building, the officers, nurse joy heck even Steven Devon himself tried to sedate her and all he got was a bitten finger."

The raven head nodded "Well she was drunk at that time, maybe she isn't now" as soon as Ash said that the red head girl began throwing snowballs at the Wurmple that won't get off her leg.

Roxanne sighed "Ash, I know you wanna help. Heck that's basically your job you're a social worker but there are just some people who are a lost cause to begin with"

"Well, there's nothing wrong with trying" Ash said in his usual gung-ho fashion "Stubborn people who deny help are usually the ones who need it the most. And they're lucky that I'm as stubborn as they are"

Shaking her head the brunette shrugged "Well it's your funeral Ketchum; I'll get the first aid kit in case she hits your balls"

* * *

And she did hit him in the balls.

* * *

 **I had no idea what I was going for in this one.**

 **Mrs. Nose: I'm glad to contribute (not consistently) to the dead niche of Alphabet-Song challenges. Brock and Tracy is indeed a pair that exists somewhere. And jealous Ash indeed is cute adorkable Ash.**

 **MaliceNight666: We all met the requirements**

 **Thank you and review.**


	6. Forest

Word: Forest

Song: Nina by Ed Sheeran

/

She met him when he was a kid, but then she was one as well. He was just a stupid boy that she had fished and stole her bike. She remembered that in the summer they'd fight about the weather until someone pushed the other into a nearby river. Under the stars were they used to lay as they listened to Brock's snores on replay. They'd be on a new town almost every day and when they're home it's usually on Ash's place they'd stay.

Getting lost, capturing new pokemon, battling Team Rocket, meeting new people and accidentally eating a berry that would make them high. That was their life. They got each other's back through good times and bad, through terrible puns and bad directions. They would talk about anything in late nights from his dreams, her sisters, his dad, and her fears for the future.

Sometimes he'd even tell her she looked pretty without make-up.

"I don't even wear make-up!" she threw a rock at his sleeping bag.

The rock managed to hit his eye in the process "Ow! Hey couldn't you even take a compliment!"

She snorted "Oh please, I know you were totally joking there" she crossed her arms "You were trying to get my hopes weren't you"

Ash groaned "I don't understand girls; you take everything as an insult"

"Would you two go to sleep" Brock groaned trying to get back to his dream of Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys.

It was a simple time then.

Then her sisters happened.

She knew it would come to this soon, but she didn't expect it to happen at that time. Change was never an easy thing to adjust to and it was always painful the first time.

But they were best friends right? Nothing could stop them.

She would get a video call once a week from him. He would say he missed her because she was more tolerable to camping and shopped less than May. Misty would then compare his appetite to her Gyrados and they'd have an argument that would last two hours and a large toll fee for Ash.

She would visit him in Hoenn sometimes and even travel a bit, just like the old times, or something similar at least.

"When are you coming back?" he asked her again when everyone else was asleep.

She faced her old friend "Aren't I already back?"

Staring intently at the campfire "You know what I mean" he clicked his tongue "When are you _really_ coming back?"

"I . . . ah . . ." she couldn't face him because she didn't have a straight answer "I . . . dunno"

The two sat next to each other in silence until Max woke up seeing the two "What are you guys doing up so late?"

That was the last night she had an all-nighter with Ash.

Gym responsibilities come, even with her sisters back she couldn't hand the gym back to them. They knew nothing of battling and it was a miracle that the gym still stood up to that point. With that said Misty was determined to get the Cerulean Gym back to its former glory.

Calls have been inconsistent as time went by usually occurring once a month if possible. Due to the rare calls it seemed as though the little time of conversation they had was getting more and more impersonal. It didn't help that Dawn or Kenny or some other person would but into their call and they would spend most of the time with introductions that catching up.

She didn't know where she got the idea of letter writing but it seemed like a better idea, in that way she could talk to him without awkward silences or disturbances, it was perfect. Sure there was the catch of her having to struggle to find what city he would be at that time, it was little price to pay to say the least.

When Ash came back from Sinnoh she was busy. It was currently League season in the Kanto region so Misty had battles to fight and a gym to defend. As much as she would like to take a day off she should know from experience that most young trainers get a little pesky when waiting for their gym battle.

She had just finished off a Dustox with her Starmie's Ice Beam when she heard someone clapping inside the empty gym.

"Looks like you didn't slow down" yelled the familiar raven-head.

She blushed red for a moment in shock before she pulled herself together and yelled back "Of course I didn't I'm the best around here!"

The cocky smirk on his face made her blood boil "Bring it on Mist"

"Don't you dare go high and mighty on me Ketchum!" she waved her clenched fist.

The two good friends had completely ignored the trainer who had just recalled his Dustox "Hey! I still have one Pokémon left you know!"

They still had a connection, but for how long?

Unova being a region from literally the other side of the globe made letter deliveries quite difficult. By the time her birthday package reached him it was two weeks before Christmas.

By now her sisters were setting her up for blind dates she didn't want to be a part of. She understood the concern but she didn't need a romantic distraction now she was busy. Her sisters thought otherwise.

"Misty, long distance relationships are tricky" Daisy said one breakfast morning. "Especially if the guy isn't serious"

The redhead was currently chatting with the said boy on PokeChat "We're just friends Daisy. He knows that"

Giving her younger sister a concerned look "He knows, but do you?"

Looking up from her phone "I know what I'm doing sis"

It was in here Violet entered the room "Hey Mist, someone's here to see you"

Sure they're still friends, but are they still the best?

"So she kissed you?" they were currently in a café with a weird nature theme that had tables designed like trees with the roots serving as chairs.

Ash had just returned from Kalos and for the first time in a while the two were alone and catching up.

And he was talking about Serena.

"Uh yeah . . . I didn't really know how to react" Ash rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

Misty took a sip of her jasmine tea "Well . . . I saw your posts online" she was having a hard time making eye contact with him "Are you two a thing already?"

Trying to look at something else in the room "No . . . I don't think I'm ready for that sort of thing" he then attempted to shift the conversation "How 'bout you? How's your life been lately?"

Before she could say anything Lily had come rushing into their table "MISTY! Gyrados is loose again!"

Her life? It seemed like a blur for her at this point. It's all maintenance, gym battles, paperwork, meetings and the occasional league party. She tried to balance her work and fun by taking a vacation here and there, traveling alone, and hanging out with friends like Sakura even had time for the occasional date.

She no longer had time for _him_. As he had long ago.

It was an early morning when she turned on the T.V. She was dressed in an oversized T-shirt having muffins for breakfast and wanted to check if she should bring an umbrella with her today or not.

The first thing she saw was him. Right there front and center was the boy-wonder himself, the so-called chosen one, the stubborn guy who always acted like a ten year old. Once again he had saved the world from apparent destruction.

"Huh, didn't know I could get Alola channels from here" said her boyfriend Gregorio as he entered the kitchen.

Gregorio was a nice guy. He was smart having graduated from the infamous Celadon University. He was very good looking and an all-around nice person. He was one of the board members in the League making him well acquainted with a few high ranking trainers, including that Pallet brat himself.

"I'm gonna go change" Misty said taking a last bite of her muffin and heading for the bedroom. She immediately crashed unto the immaculate queen sized bed covered in Egyptian cotton. She closed her eyes trying to erase herself from this luxury.

They had lost contact long ago yet she can't help but still think about him. He told her to move on before he left for Alola. It had been hard to maintain their relationship to when they were kids, and it seemed like the only one trying between the two of them was her.

"You're cutting me off!" she yelled at him angrily at the airport, she only knew he was leaving after a text message from Brock "Why didn't you tell me! I didn't even know you were here, can't you just say hi!"

He bit his lip refusing to look at her "I'm not . . . it's . . . I don't want to seem unfair to you"

"Unfair!" she felt like he'd slapped her "You're the one being selfish here!"

Sighing looking at the giant clock on a near-by wall "I understand but I can't help it. I try to keep all my friendships but you know there a people I've probably forgotten and . . ." letting out another breath "Mist, you're better off without me. You're an independent woman. We're still friends but . . . people grow and fall apart"

She was now an adult, and so was he. They both knew better. They knew that in every new friend they make they lose one, that was just one of the many side-effects of growing up.

Yet why? Here she was on a soft comfortable bed, dating a wonderful understanding man, living the dream of being a respected water Pokémon trainer. Why does she long for her cold hard sleeping bag, the bug infested forest, the yelling and screaming of pointless things, the constant 'aha' it's Team Rocket moments, the constant pulling of Brock's ear, the . . .

Why does she still miss him?

/

 **This was a very sad entry again. I don't know if I even correlated forest properly into this one. I'm sorry for the delay but here we have one. I hope you enjoy.**

 **Please Review.**


	7. Gizzard

Word: Gizzard

Song: Just A Kiss by Lady Antebellum

* * *

Brock was busy boiling Pidgeotto gizzard for his Pidgeotto Vegetable Stir Fry when Ash stormed into the kitchen in a very foul mood.

"What did she do this time?" the former gym leader said putting salt, chopped red onions and seasoning cubes into the boiling pot.

Adulthood did not seem to change the dynamic between Ash and Misty. They still fought over the most ridiculously mundane things, they were still very competitive with each other, they still got on each other's nerves and they still settled their arguments like they were both ten.

"It was her fault" the raven head grumbled leaning against the kitchen counter "She started it"

"Uhuh" Brock nodded "What exactly did she start"

Groaning "I don't get it Brock, why is it every time I try to have some sort of decent conversation with her she bites me in the ass every time!" he scratched his head "I'm pretty sure menopause isn't supposed to come for women that early"

Dicing his ingredients "Ash, it's rude to joke about that" the Pokémon doctor commented "Even in private, because they could hear"

"I don't give a damn if she hears what I'm saying" Ash crossed his arms "If she wants to listen to me rant about her obnoxious behavior then fine! It's not different from what I tell to her face anyway!"

Brock sighed at his friend's antics "Ash, you're only here for a few days. Just try to be civil with her throughout the weekend; I don't want your fight between Misty to spoil everyone's vacation."

Taking a deep breath the young man decided to take his good friend's advice "I'll try my best, but if she crosses the line again I swear she won't be leaving this island with that irritating grin on her face" and with that he left the kitchen and headed off somewhere else in the beach house.

Brock then proceeded with the rest of his cooking. He chopped the veggies, tomatoes and chili. He took out some of the oil he used to fry the gizzards and poured into a pan. And he added curry powder, thyme and fried for a minute.

It was at this moment that Misty entered the kitchen with an equally foul mood as the person before her had. Unlike Ash though she did not make a sound, she just sat on one of the stools near the counter and frowned.

As Misty was pretty much a little sister to him, Brock pretty much knew what each and every one of her moods meant. "You heard everything he said didn't you?" he asked.

The red head just went into a deeper frown not replying.

"You know Ash is an impulsive person" Brock continued "He doesn't mean what he says half the time"

"He doesn't know what he's saying half the time" she grumbled.

"Exactly what happened between the two of you this time" the man placed a lid on the pot and faced her "I swear on the way here you guys were laughing"

Misty rolled her eyes "Just because we're laughing doesn't mean we're having a good time"

"Isn't laughter a sign of happiness?" Brock asked.

"It could also be a sign of bitterness"

Shaking his head "You know what, I'm not gonna asked what happened."

Misty snorted "That's a first"

"What I am going to ask however is. . . " Brock took a moment to make a dramatic pause "How was the kiss?"

At this the red head had comically fell off her stool before immediately standing up and facing her friend "Ki . . ki . . kiss? Are you you . . . trying to make a joke?" her face went redder as she talked "Hahaha, ohh Brock you always tried to make everything funny, yeah me and him kissing? Bleh. That's as if you're saying that Charmander could lay eggs or something."

Not even being faced by Misty's denial "So it was good I presume"

Misty gulped and waved a shaky finger at Brock "No! No! It's not good! There's nothing good on anything that didn't happen. Which it didn't. So there is no way I could judge if it was good because NOTHING HAPPENED"

"Your statement had double negatives" the former gym leader rubbed his chin "So that leads to a positive?"

"Wait . . . what?!" Misty waved her hands "NO! I said no several times so it's a TOTAL NEGATIVE!"

It was in here that a certain brunette coordinator entered the kitchen "Hey Brock, everyone's wondering how . . ." May's eyes then diverted to Misty "OH MY GOSH MISTY IS THAT A HICKEY!"

Misty's face was now crimson at this point as she went over to the glass cabinet to see her reflection. In there she saw a tiny mark had formed on her neck.

* * *

 **Sorry this took ages, as a payback I'm gonna upload another chapter tomorrow.**


	8. Hug

Word: Hug

Song: Toxic by Britney Spears

* * *

Atmosphere was heavy in the club. Sweaty bodies were swaying to the beats of an early 2000's Britney song. Neon lights flickered making anyone dizzy from either the brightness or the rapid blinking.

Pants, moans and breaths were what escaped the lips of most people in the dance floor. You'd think that being in a public place a person wouldn't allow him/herself to lose control and embrace animalistic vibes.

People were no different from Pokémon Ash mused. In the end it all went to basic instincts. No matter how calculated or level-headed a person maybe but given the certain environment and situation anyone could go wild.

And like a predator lurking for his prey, he had eyes on only one thing.

Right there in the middle of the dance floor dressed in a denim boiler suit exposing her bedazzled bra to the world like no body's business was a certain red head that he had once called scrawny.

"Hey man do you have a five?"

The raven head turned his head to see Brock slumped over the table "Don't tell me someone took your wallet, again"

"I thought she really wanted it!" the former gym leader wept "She was getting all handsy"

Sipping his glass of brandy "Because she was wondering where your wallet was in all those pockets of yours"

"Ketchum shut up and just give me a five" Brock groaned.

"How sure would I be that you wouldn't donate it to some random chick in the bathroom again?" Ash teased.

Lifting his head from the table "Very funny"

Ash lifted his drink and gave his friend a smirk "Aw, cheer up, don't worry drink's on me"

"What is it with you Pallet folk, not only do you snug all the Pokémon but you've taken the women too!?"

Patting Brock on the shoulder "First of all, as much as I love Pokémon I don't go for bestiality. Second, it's Gary who takes all the chicks. I'll be passed out in the middle of the street in some unknown city before I get on with a girl"

Glaring at his friend "Yeah right, any woman would flash their chest at the Kanto Champion!"

"If that were true then I'm gonna wear a blindfold whenever I go home to meet mom"

"Come on Ash" Brock rolled his eyes "What are you even doing here sitting in some corner when you could bumpin' and grinding with those hot blondes over there!"

"I'm enjoying my drink; unlike most people here I actually appreciate the fine work the bartender does" Ash said taking another sip.

Brock raised a brow "Don't tell me you swing . . ."

"If I said yes would you stop asking me to hump the waitress every time she passes by?" Ash deadpanned.

Before Brock could reply a loud slap was heard and immediately the boys turned their heads to the source of the sound.

In there they saw a fuming Misty who was clenching her fist and a surprised random dude on the floor.

"Oh oh" Brock rose from his seat "She's not going to . . ."

"From the look on her face that dude probably won't see anything tomorrow" Ash commented also rising.

People who were dancing earlier were now staring at the Cerulean gym leader wondering what wrath she was going to implode on this poor random man. The girl was balling her fist so tight she was practically shaking it. After a moment of anticipation she dropped her fist and just immediately left stomping for the exit.

* * *

Misty was immediately greeted by the cold air of Celadon city. She had exited the night club and retreated for the balcony and was greeted by the sight of neon signs, smoke from food stalls, and random cab noises.

When she had first come to Celadon city she hadn't realized of how much sin the city contained. She didn't think that a lady such as Erika would be the leader of a town famous for its casinos and nightclubs.

In fact Misty never even thought she'd even be in one right now.

She looked at the clothes she wore and she didn't know if she should gag or cry, this was definitely not her comfort zone. What on Ho-Oh's land made her wear such a thing? Not even her sisters would convince her to show off her bra.

"Hey Mist you ok?"

Oh yeah that's why she did this.

She refused to face him, this was not one of her best moments, there were worst but still.

"Hey Mist?" he repeated again.

She remained silent and crossed her arms.

"Fine you wanna do it that way?" she then heard a click "Then fine, have it your way"

Misty turned to face him "And you have the audacity to smoke in my presence"

Ash placed his lighter in his pocket "And you have the nerve to give that bloke back there a black-eye"

"He was asking for it" the red head grit her teeth. "He was getting handsy"

Ash nodded "Uhuh" he removed the cigarette out of his mouth and let smoke come out "You were sorta asking for it with that get-up of yours"

"I liked it better when you were the idiot who didn't know better but Pokémon and food" Misty glared "Now you're a chain smoking smart-ass who still doesn't know anything but Pokémon and food"

He did a thumbs-up.

Misty sighed "Ok, it was my fault. But all I did was a slap! I didn't beat him up or anything!"

"I was wondering that, usually by now we're defending you from assault charges"

"I just . . ." she trailed off.

Placing the cigarette back in his mouth "Uh huh"

Wrapping her arms around herself because it was cold "I was just letting my frustrations out . . ."

"Go on . . ."

Misty stared at her silver glittered stilettos "I feel out of place"

"Out of place?" Ash raised a brow "You seemed to be having a good time earlier"

The girl groaned "I take back what I said earlier, you're still an idiot"

"And you're still a girl with more mood swings than a woman suffering from menopause" Ash looked up at the clear dark sky. "Look, if you didn't want to come why did you come?"

"Cause it's the only way I can hang out with you!" she yelled at him.

He took a moment to remove his cigarette "What?"

Misty sighed "Look, we're not little kids anymore. We can't just go off and have adventures like we used to, we have responsibilities now and it's rare for us to take a break."

"What does this have to do with you forcing yourself . . ."

"I dunno!" Misty raised her hands "It's just . . . you of all people have no free time and when you do it's usually casino hopping with Brock . . ."

"Not always" Ash pointed out "We did go to this one . . . magic show in Vegas . . . before . . . playing blackjack . . ." he coughed "And I know you hate doing stuff like that that's why I don't invite you"

She was pretty much glaring at him "That's the thing Ash; you never invite me to anything! You go bar hopping with Brock, mountain-climbing with Gary; deep-sea diving with Max, food-trips with May heck you even went on a shopping-spree with Dawn and Serena!"

"That last one was because I was dating Serena then!" Ash pressed his cigarette on an ashtray "And because I keep getting tickets to fashion shows for some reason"

"So . . ." she turned her back against him "Why didn't you invite me to any of those"

Sighing and rubbing the back of his neck "Well I actually did, but whenever I tried you were either too busy battling kids all day or knee-deep in League paperwork. If it weren't that you were usually going to some foreign conference or something. I guess I just stopped trying after that"

Misty tapped her foot trying to think of a reply but nothing came out.

"Look I understand" he continued "You're probably wondering why the Kanto Champion has more free time than you. Well it's not exactly a fixed schedule, but sometimes I get three months and others I have to be in three regions in one day. And sometimes . . ."

"Get to your point!" Misty growled.

"My point is we don't really have that much time together" he placed his palms behind his neck "Which is why we should be making the most out of it. If you don't wanna go bar hopping then fine we'll go camping, I'm sure Brock wouldn't mind"

She faced her friend "You know that's impossible to do now"

"What camping?"

"Yeah, you know we can't just go pitch a tent in the Viridian forest now" Misty exclaimed "We might get ambushed by trainers who want a chance to challenge the Champion or something"

Ash snorted "You just don't wanna sleep with bugs"

"Ash I'm serious, this has nothing to do with my . . . distaste for a certain Pokémon type"

Before Ash could reply he felt his PokeGear vibrate "Sorry I have to take this" he then took his phone and went to the other side of the balcony.

As her friend left the red head leaned against the balcony and crossed her arms "Idiot, no matter how many championships you hold you still wouldn't get it" she looked up at the stars, which weren't that visible because of the city lights, hoping that Arceus or some other mythical beast would knock some sense into that stupid Pallet trainer.

Despite wearing a denim boiler suit she still couldn't help but feel the chill of the town. This is probably most likely due to the fact that her chest was exposed and there were no buttons to cover them up.

"I hate you Daisy" she said trying to cover her chest with her arms. "Just because he knows how to drink a scotch doesn't mean he looks at boobs now"

"I do actually"

Suddenly some cloth was thrown at her face blocking her view "What was that for!" Misty took off the cloth before realizing it was Ash's coat.

Placing his PokeGear back in his pocket "If you don't want freaky guys touching your chest cover them up will ya" he then went back inside.

Pouting, Misty put on the coat and made sure to button up before following her friend in the club. She had managed to catch up with him as he was walking back towards his table with Brock "So did the League call you up again?"

"Yeah, something about some Mankey smuggling ring somewhere near Fuchsia city" they saw Brock had drunkenly fallen asleep on their table so Ash slammed his palm hard on the table "BROCK! GET UP!"

This act deemed to be useless as the former Pewter city gym leader continued to sleep on his pool of drool. "Jeennneeehhh, wanna plaaaaaeeeyyyy?"

Misty rolled her eyes "Do you want me to pull his ear?"

"No it's no use he'll probably be too drunk to stand up anyway" Ash then took out a Pokeball from his belt "Come on out Scraggy!"

The shredding Pokémon came out and almost immediately tried to head-butt a nearby waitress.

"What the . . . SCRAGGY GET BACK HERE!" Ash said chasing the dual type.

Misty sighed "Somethings never change" and it was at this time that out of nowhere Pikachu jumped unto the girl's shoulder "Oh hey there Pikachu, did you have fun dancing?"

The electric rat squealed at Misty's petting "Chaaaaa"

* * *

"You didn't have to drive me back all the way to Cerulean" the red head yawned. After finally getting Scraggy to carry a drunken Brock into Gary's Mercedes Benz E-Class Estate (which Ash stole after the said Oak beat him into a very long game of Backgammon), both the breeder and the Pokémon fell asleep at the back. Pikachu on the other hand fell asleep on Misty's lap throughout the trip.

"Don't worry Koga seems to have everything under control" Ash said as they walked up to the front door of Misty's house.

Misty raised her brow "Then why did they call in the champion if, an Elite Four member could handle it"

Ash shrugged "I dunno, bureaucracy?"

At this the red head snorted.

"What's so funny?"

Misty shook her head "I never thought that you would not only know what that word means but actually use it in a sentence"

Ash paused for a moment "I actually don't know what it means, I just say that whenever someone whines about anything the League does"

"Well" Misty held unto the doorknob "I guess I'll leave you in the hands of League officials and politicians"

The champion gave his friend a look "Hey Mist"

"Ye . . ." before she could say anything she was suddenly wrapped in his embrace. She was taken aback by his gesture, he used to give hugs to everyone when they were kids but now it seems getting a handshake was difficult to get by with him.

She didn't know how long it had been since he held her like this. She realized she missed being in his arm. He was warm, he was holding her tight as though she were to evaporate at any second now and . . . he just felt sincere.

"I'm sorry I can't be with you all the time" Ash mumbled unto her shoulder "This is the best I could do, I hope you're ok with that"

Misty wrapped her tiny arms around him, he had definitely grown a lot. "Take some breath mints next time would ya" she joked "I can smell your cigars from here"

"Sorry"

"It's ok" Misty closed her eyes relaxing "Aside from that, you're still the same old Ash"

* * *

 **As promised another letter, it took me awhile to think of making something non-sexual out of a well sexy song.  
Please review. **


	9. Ice

Word: Ice

Song: Walkin' on a Pretty Day by Kurt Vile

* * *

Being back home brought a sense of joy for Ash. As much as he liked to explore the world and getting caught up in the unknown, he also enjoyed the presence of familiarity. There have been a few changes to Pallet town since he first set foot on his journey when he was ten years old.

There were now more paved streets, a couple of more people had moved in from the city, mostly elderly people who wanted to retire or farming enthusiasts. There were also a few stores that popped up but nothing too commercial, but at least there was now a train station in the town.

Back then Ash had to walk through the Viridian Forest, spend a night at Viridian City then walk again through more fields before finally reaching Pallet. Now he can take a train to not only Viridian but Pewter as well.

So here he was sitting on one of the benches of said train station waiting. It was quite hot during the summer so he was just dressed in a simple black shirt and jeans. He checked his Xtranceiver which told him it was around five-thirty in the afternoon; she should be there by now.

He looked over to the platform and found the train wasn't there yet.

"Pipi Pikachu-Pi?" Pikachu asked as he was perched on the wooden bench.

"I dunno buddy, train seems kinda . . ." it was in here that a loud bell rang followed by the arrival of the train.

"Pikachu-pi!" the yellow mouse leaped in victory.

Ash smiled at his Pokémon's antics "Calm down buddy, what if she didn't come on this train"

Almost immediately Pikachu dropped his tiny paws and gave his owner a glare.

"I was just kidding! Jeez" Ash rolled his eyes.

The trains doors opened and there didn't seem to be that much people that came out, in fact there were only four people: an old lady, a young man behind her carrying her luggage that seems to be her grandson, and two ladies whom Ash remembered worked around the radish farm.

"Hmm, where is she?" Ash looked over then on the corner of his eye he spotted a red head dashing from the far right side of the train to get out.

"Pikachu-pi!" as soon as the girl stepped out of the train the yellow rodent leaped into her arms "Pipipikachupi!"

Misty was happy with the surprise greeting "Oh hey there Pikapal" she rubbed Pikachu's head "You're always so happy to see me"

Ash snorted at the girl "Nice get-up"

Misty was currently wearing an orange texture gathered knee midi skirt, a frilly baby blue sleeveless top, Sophia Webster Blaker shoes, black cat eye sunglasses and a ridiculous hot pink organza hat that you see being worn by bridesmaids or fancy British people when they go to church.

The girl blushed embarrassingly but still looked at him glaring "Of all the times you come back and ask me over, it happens to be laundry day"

"I'm questioning the heels" Ash bent over and played with the jewels on her shoes "Like I'm sure buying flip-flops wouldn't be that much of a trouble for you"

As a respond Misty tried to kick his hand away "IT WAS VIOLET'S IDEA OK! She assumed there was going to be some party at the Oaks again"

Pikachu went down from her arms and also played with the several jewels of her heels, which made Ash chuckle "I doubt a BBQ would require these sort of sparkly heels, it's like you're gonna be the Princess Beautifly of some kid's birthday party"

"Shut up Ketchum!"

* * *

"Oh Misty . . ." Delia blinked at the young girl's attire "You look . . . quite sparkly today"

Ash could feel the red head glare against the back of his neck for some reason and he couldn't help but laugh at his friend's expense.

He brought her bags to the guest room down the hall on the second floor, for someone staying overnight she brought quite a lot of stuff. "MIST DID YOU PUT YOUR MALLET HERE OR SOMETHING!" he yelled dropping her bags in her room.

Immediately he could hear the sounds of heels running towards the room and before he could turn around Misty had punched him from behind, hard, and so hard he actually fell to the bed.

Face first on the mattress of the bed "Ok, that was slightly more painful than I expected."

The girl was cracking her knuckles "I can go stronger than that you know"

He lifted his head and turned to her "Sorry, I can't take you seriously with the shades and funky hat"

Again face flushing, she grunted then pulled out the hat and threw it somewhere in the room and threw the cat shades at Ash. "That's it, prepare to die Ketchum"

Rubbing the spot the shades hit "Seriously Mist, I invite you to my home and you already assault me twice within the first fifteen minutes"

"I'll show you assault!" with that she pounced the young man and attempted to choke hold him, but she failed when Ash flipped her judo style and untangled her grip on his neck.

Misty screamed as she was flipped over and landed on her back "Ketchum! Why did you . . ." she immediately stopped when he gripped both her arms to her side.

"Hmm, well what do you know" Ash smirked "Puberty does help"

The girl rolled her eyes "A little cocky aren't we?"

"I dunno" he then whispered to her ear "You tell me"

Her eyes then widened "Ash . . . what are you . . ." before she knew it he was kissing her neck ". . . .Oh . . . crap" she moaned.

Ash chuckled before making sure to leave a mark on her neck for her sisters to judge later.

She tried her best to push him away, but it was no use. It wasn't her fault that she enjoyed what he was doing with her, she was as much as a hormonal teenager as he was.

After leaving one last lick Ash lifted his head and saw the girl quite red. Her head was tilted to the side, her eyes were close, her cheeks were very red and she was biting on her lip.

"My, my" the boy smirked "Looks like . . ."

"ASH DEAR!"

At once Ash bolted from the bed and stood up straight at the sound of his mother's voice "YES MOM?"

"COULD YOU PICK UP THE CAKE AT MRS. VINTERDOTTER'S SHOP?"

"Momm! Why do I . . ."

"And take Misty with you"

At the mention of her name Misty opened her eyes and sat up "Do you think she . . ."

"I rather not ask" Ash sweatdropped "But if we come back and she has a cleaver ready for my little friend downstairs then we know"

* * *

"Ash, don't lick the cake" Misty said as soon as they left the bakery.

The boy had removed the box and his finger was around two centimeters from contact "I'm just making sure it isn't poisoned"

"What reason would they put poison in there!" it was here that Misty remembered that this was Pallet town; this place was second to Fuchsia city when it came to toxins in their food.

"Hmm . . ." Ash pondered for a moment if he should just follow Misty's advice or his own gut; he went for the later and scooped a tiny bit of icing and put it on his finger and unto his mouth "I knew it . . . Caramel Apple Cinnamon"

Misty groaned and snatched the box from him and covered the lid "Could you not wait till later!"

"If I could have it now then why not?" he placed his hands behind his head "We might get caught up in some accident on the way back, if I didn't eat it now then I would never know what it tasted like"

"We're walking to your house!" Misty retorted. "What sort of accident would happen to use in Pallet town? Pidgey crossing the pathway?"

Ash started to walk ahead "You never know, Team Rocket could be hiding in the bushes at any moment now"

"Team Rocket!?" Misty followed her friend "They stopped following you the moment your voice dropped and James had an existential crisis"

He paused in his walking for a moment "I dunno Mist, when my plane had to refuel at the Suez Canal I saw them camel riding nearby while buying souvenirs for mom"

Mist raised her brow "Are you sure it was them?"

"How many talking Meowths do you know?" he asked.

"Not many" she shrugged "So it must be them, wow can't believe they followed you all around the world"

"I guess old habits die hard" and with that they continued on their path heading for the Ketchum residence. It was quite a nice late afternoon, the sunset gave the sky a nice orange color and there were no hint of clouds. The breeze was cool but not chilly, insects could be heard and several bird Pokémon were flying their way home.

It was definitely a pretty day, Misty noted. She then turned her vision to the boy she was walking with, who was currently looking over at the fields. They might no longer be taking long walks from town to town anymore but having this little stroll was already enough really.

Ash then turned to Misty and noticed that she had been staring; he then gave her a smile which leads the girl to blush and look at the cake she was carrying.

This was ridiculous, Misty thought. Why is it no matter how many times he leaves, no matter how long he's gone and no matter what she does to forget about him; he still does that one little thing and she turns into that twelve year-old little girl who realized she'd fallen in love with her best friend.

It doesn't help that whenever she visits him they have a 3 am make-out session in his room.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Ash said breaking the silence they'd had for a while.

Misty lifted her head "What?"

"I dunno, you've just been really quiet" Ash dropped his arms to his sides "And you've got this look that you have when you're thinking of something really deep"

The redhead blinked "I do?"

"Yeah, it's like . . ." he paused trying to think of the proper words to say "You know what I must be over-thinking, the jet-lag's probably hitting me"

The girl giggled.

He frowned "Now what?"

She smiled at him "I dunno, I just thought that I was the only one overthinking between the two of us"

His eyes widened a bit "Really? What were you overthinking about?"

The gym leader shrugged "Oh the usual, gym duties, battle strategies, taxes, League papers, and my personal life . . . the usual stuff"

"Huh" Ash looked up at the sky as it was getting darker "That so"

At this Misty snorted "You've probably get less problems than I do"

"Not really" Ash answered "At least you've got a roof and a fridge to rely on. I have to think about where I'm gonna sleep every night, food rations, training my Pokémon, laundry on the go, the occasional regional crime syndicate or legendary issue to deal with, calling my mother about said laundry . . ."

Misty waved her hand dismissively "Alright, I know you've got problems washing your underwear everyday"

"There's also trying to keep contact with everyone" Ash sighed "You don't know how many people are mad at me for not replying to their chats cause I happen to be in the middle of some mountain with no wifi or when a Golbat eats my phone"

"Yeah" Misty shook her head "You don't know how many people ask me to bug you and confirm to me on whether you're still alive" she the paused "Cause for some reason you've been constant when chatting up with me"

Ash shrugged "I guess it's an advantage of your busy schedule"

"I guess . . . so" Misty stopped walking as they were near the Ketchum residence.

Ash noticed this and stopped to face her "You know, there's this one thing that always bothers me"

Misty clenched on the box she was holding "What is that?"

"I think you already know what it is" he said coming closer to her.

She looked down at the cake "I umm . . ." she looked away "I . . . kinda wonder about it too"

Hands in his pockets "Then why didn't you say anything whenever we . . . umm . . ."

"Have sex?"

There was a pause between them; they could hear Murkrow crowing nearby.

There was a tinge of pink on Ash's cheeks "Mist" he whispered "My mom might . . ."

"I'm pretty sure she knows what we've been doing already" she gulped, her cheeks were also red "There's a reason why your bedside drawer always has a new box every time"

Ash's eye twitched at the thought of his mother secretly listening on them at 3am in the morning. He then shook his head "Mist, we're getting off topic"

At this Misty groaned "Why are we talking about this again?"

"Because . . ." Ash sighed "We have to"

Misty was biting her lip "We gotta get the cake . . ."

"Screw the cake! Mom probably has another one in the fridge!" Ash scratched the back of his neck "She probably asked us out because she knows what's up"

Misty closed her eyes, of course Delia would be the kind of person to pull off a stunt like this, "Damn it" she said silently cursing the woman.

"Well . . . we're already here" he leaned against the fence "Might as well get this over with"

Opening her eyes "Fine you wanna know why I don't talk about it!" she shoved the cake box into Ash's hand "It's because I know no matter what I do you'll still be leaving!"

Ash grabbed the box and blinked.

"Don't you dare give me that confused look!" she pointed at him "Do you think I'm fine whenever we do it!? Do you think I'm emotionally okay whenever we do something as passionate as that then you leave me the next day or so for another country!? Do YOU FUCKING KNOW WHAT THAT DOES TO A GIRL!?"

Ash decided to just let her finish.

"HERE I AM BACK IN CERULEAN WONDERING WHAT ON EARTH YOU'RE DOING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GLOBE EVERY. DAMN. NIGHT." She poked his chest at every word "I'm wondering if you're stuck in a snow storm freezing, starving because you took the dumb decision of taking the scenic route because you're after some rare Pokémon, or even worse if you've met some big chested fire type trainer who's better than me!"

Ash raised a finger "About . . ."

"I'M NOT YET DONE!"

Blinking "Proceed"

"Do you know how hard it is to explain to people who ask me out!? I can't say I'm in a relationship because you're not there anyway and I can't say I'm single cause I'M FUCKING YOU EVERYTIME YOU DO COME HERE!" she was now panting from the yelling she'd been doing "I think that's all the problems I can think off for now"

Ash opened his mouth but then closed it before opening his mouth again "I'm pretty sure sorry isn't the word you want to hear right now"

Her hands on her hips "Come on, I've said my side." She poked his chest "You say yours, why don't you say anything?"

Sighing and looking up at the heavens asking Ho-Oh for guidance he started "Well, you could say . . . I was a coward"

At this Misty snorted.

"Hey" Ash gave her a look "As you said, I'm not exactly boyfriend material. I'm always gone, I take Pokémon training above everything else and I'm usually slow in picking up things. And you're an independent woman with a life; I can't hold you back on a better more stable relationship."

Misty crossed her arms "Continue"

"What you just said was true . . ." Ash sighed looking at the street lamp near his house, anything to avoid looking at her "I'm already hurting you at this point, what more if I pursue a relationship with you? It'll just crash and burn before we know it."

It was already getting dark at this point, and the two young adults were at a standstill. There was really nothing left to say really. They stated their points, what their problem was and . . . that was it.

"I guess . . ." Misty said already heading for the house "That's how it is . . ."

"But I'm still in love with you"

She stopped walking. Did she hear that right? "What did you say?"

Not moving from his position "But I'm still in love with you"

The red head turned around stomped right back at him, looked up at him and glared "You fucking dare say that" she clenched her palms "YOU HAD TO FUCKING SAY THAT!"

"Yeah" Ash snorted "I'm jerk I know"

"I hate you" she growled.

"I love you"

"You don't mean it"

"I know exactly what I mean"

"You're not thinking straight"

"It's the only thing that makes sense"

Misty closed her eyes "I'm such an idiot"

Ash cocked his head "Why"

"Drop the cake"

"Why?"

"Just drop it"

"It's cinna . . ." in there he was caught off guard by her lips attacking his, thus making him drop the box.

Misty pulled away with a smirk "I told you to drop the cake"

"Screw the cake" and with that he lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist and decided to shut her up.

* * *

 **NeoXen7: Thanks for reviewing the last two chapters. Glad you like how I matured Ash, I just kinda got tired of the trope of him being a total idiot every time. Anyway I love reading your reviews. Regarding your question about the Elite Four: In my opinion they probably just need the Champion's signature or something.**

 **So this is my Christmas present to you! (If I don't update this by Christmas). Happy holidays and may we all bask in what's left of our internet freedom.**

 **Review please.**


	10. Joy

Word: Joy

Song: Fergalicious by Fergie

* * *

"She's ruined me"

"Ash don't me dramatic"

"I'm not being dramatic!"

Brock rolled his eyes as he flipped a page over his copy of Eevolution Weekly "Ash, since when did you care about your weight?"

The raven head was currently looking at a scale that said 100 kg "Brock, I admit I eat a lot"

"Eating a lot is an understatement"

"I'm not done!" yelled an annoyed Ash "I usually take three to five servings of stake in one sitting. I am very active in eating competitions and I can say me and Snorlax have similar eating habits in everyway"

Brock looked over from his magazine "Apparently you are very much aware of your own gluttony"

"BUT I NEVER GAINED TEN KILOGRAMS IN TWO WEEKS!" the trainer got off the scale and collapsed on the sofa across Brock "Like out of all the buffets and stuff my mom feeds me, heck I swear I ate lard straight from the container one time for a dare"

The former breeder gave his friend a look "Ash that is gross"

"YET I NEVER GOT FAT FROM THAT!"

Brock sighed "Ash, you're not a young trainer anymore. You don't walk around vast land fields and climb mountains anymore to get to the next town." He put down his magazine "You're a Champion now and all you do now is paper work, meetings and the occasional battle, which became even more occasional because you choose one heck of an Elite Four."

The raven head groaned "Great, I'm gonna end up like Adler"

"I think that's pushing it buddy" Brock crossed his arms "You don't have a heavy drinking problem like he has"

Looking up at the ceiling "Why do I even eat her cooking anyway?" he groaned. "She always burns the rice for some bizarre reason"

"Well I dunno" Brock smirked "You tell me"

Ash gave him an appalled look "Where are you going with this?"

"Well, you seemed kinda spaced out awhile back . . ." Brock teased "You know . . ."

At once Ash stood up and threw a Spheal pillow at the doctor "BROCK! SHUT UP!"

By this Brock was chuckling "Wow, who would have thought you were that sort of person"

"What kind of person is who?"

At once the two boys turned to the female who entered the living room currently wearing workout clothes. "Since when did you go jogging Misty?" Brock asked.

The girl pulled out the earbuds in her ear "Well, I don't think it would be a good idea swimming at the fishing port now would it?"

At this Brock snorted "Exercise junkie"

"Hey! I have a gym to run I need to be in perfect shape. It's not only the Pokémon that needs to sweats so do their trainers." She crossed her arms turning to Ash "Right Ash?"

The moment she entered Ash couldn't help but notice how tight her tangerine sports bra was and how exposed her stomach was.

"Yeah Ash" Brock rested his head on his arm "Do trainers need to be in shape with their Pokémon?"

Misty noticed how the said trainer was giving her an intense stare "Ash? Are you okay?" she asked.

By this Ash snapped out of his trance and looked up at the red head "Uhh . . . what were we talking about again?"

Misty groaned "Whatever, what's for lunch by the way?"

"Uhh . . . Mom went out this morning but I'm sure there's something to heat up" Ash replied.

"Oh, is that so?" Misty said sounding slightly disappointed.

Brock rose a brow "Why planning on cooking?"

At this the gym leader did a slight blush "Umm . . . yeah . . . why?"

"Oh nothing" Brock shrugged "It's just that Ash here says he got fat from your cooking"

Ash immediately jumped "NO I DID NOT!" he faced Brock giving him the finger and mouthing 'you prick' before facing Misty "That was a misunderstanding . . . uhh you know what we should just eat I'm starving"

Misty gave the boy a look "You did gain a few . . ."

"You know what" Ash raised a finger "The two of you are mocking me. I am a hardworking man who ensures the safety and security of our region while delving into League politics that I have completely no understanding of and here you are commenting on HOW I GAINED WEIGHT!"

"You're the one who brought it up" Brock muttered.

Ash ignored Brock's comment and continued "So yes I sorta have a desk job. But please, I've had a rough week from dealing with some psycho terrorist group who for some reason decided that all humans should die except them leaving all Pokémon to frolic. SO I HAVE EVERY RIGHT to eat whatever my mother had prepared."

Misty paused for a moment before replying "Well . . . Ash I'm not down grading your job or anything. I mean you are one of the most important figures in the League so of course . . . yeah sorry about the weight comment"

The raven head took a deep sigh "Yeah, whatever . . . let's just . . . eat . . ."

There was another moment of awkward silence "So . . ." Misty pointed her fingers together "Want me to prepare dessert?"

At once both boys screamed "NO!"

* * *

Around later that evening while Misty entered the guest bathroom about to do her beauty routine she stumbled upon Brock, who seemed to be doing the same thing.

"Umm . . ." Misty slowly closed the door behind her "I never thought you as . . ."

Brock rolled his eyes at the red head's reaction to him wearing a facemask "Mist, I was a breeder. So I know exactly what the value of self-care is"

The girl just nodded "Ok . . . it's just . . . I've known you for years and this is the first time I saw you like this"

"You should have seen how Ash reacted" Brock waved his hand "He thought I was joining some cult or something"

"You can't blame him, that terrorist group he dealt with did kinda look like they were wearing facemasks" Misty pushed Brock away from the sink so she could wash her face.

The former breeder hummed "True, you know for a carefree he works too much. Like we're over here just chllin in his house while he goes to some region to deal with poachers and comes home looking like he just survived an episode of the Walking Dead"

Misty lifted her face from washing "He went out again?"

"Yeah, just after dinner he had a call asking him to go to Oblivia" Brock padded his facemask "Something about some tea loving syndicate"

"You mean Societea?" Misty grabbed a towel to wipe off her face "I heard those people in the news onetime"

"Huh, must be a couple of old folk to make the name of their criminal organization a pun" Brock slowly peeled off his facemask much to Misty's displeasure.

"Eww, did you have to do that in front of me?" Misty cringed.

The former breeder closed his eyes "Mist, you can cringe all you want but we both now I'll be leaving this room with softer skin than yours"

The redhead snorted "Whatever you say, like that will get you any girls"

"Oh please" Brock snapped his fingers "Just because you've got Ash wrapped around your finger doesn't mean you have the right to brag at my single ass face"

Misty gave her friend a look "What are you talking about?"

Brock groaned "Like you don't know"

"I don't know so please" placing a hand on her hip "Explain this to me"

Brock shook his head "I cannot believe you two, you may be in your twenties and be professionals and all that but you still act like you're ten"

Rolling her eyes "Sure don't tell me"

"Misty" the dark-skinned man took a deep breath "Ash has the hots for you"

At this Misty's face went red "What?! . . . Ok what is in that facemask? Drugs?"

"Girl everything we consume has drugs" Brock did another finger snap "The only thing that's pure natural is when Ash gets a boner seeing you flaunt your assets when you go jogging"

"OK YOU HAVE BEEN WATCHING TOO MUCH DRAG RACE!" Misty's face was now deep red in embarrassment, particularly from the idea that Ash would get . . . _excited_ from her.

Brock pointed a finger at her "Denial was cuter when you were ten. Now it's just annoying"

Misty was gripping unto her face towel while biting her lip "He's . . . umm probably just frustrated from work"

"Well true" the man shrugged "But I don't think he'd be desperate to swallow up to your terrible cooking to get laid"

Misty whipped her face to Brock "So you were talking about my cooking"

"Mist, I love you and everything but . . ." Brock did a dramatic pause "You should never be near a kitchen"

The embarrassment on her face earlier was now replaced by annoyed disappointment "Gee thanks, you know you should have just told me" she then muttered "I can't believe you guys were lying to me for so long"

"So you do admit to trying to seduce him" Brock wiggled his brows.

Trying to keep a straight face "I was not, well . . . how should I know he was . . . umm . . ."

"Aware of boobs? Mist, this guy dated beauty-queen coordinators, frontier brains and even a shrine maiden" Brock listed the girls with his fingers.

The girl groaned "Okay Brock I get it" she crossed her arms "Even idiots like Ash have fallen into perverted monsters"

Brock held his chest in false pain "Excuse me? You dare stereotype everyone with a Y chromosome?"

"This conversation is going nowhere" Misty said in disdain and left the bathroom not bothering to continue her ten-step Alolan skincare routine.

* * *

Ash had returned from intercepting a couple of Pokémon Pinchers who had taken control of various air bases in Oblivia, which was why he was called. When Ash decided to accept the position of the head of Pokémon Rangers he didn't expect the long hours, the various regional crime orgs and of course the three or five death threats he'd receive in the mail.

He had been gone for two days so he wondered if Brock and Misty were still staying over. It was currently five in the morning so he wouldn't know till a bit later.

As soon as they got in Pikachu had jumped off Ash's shoulder and crashed into the sofa, the little electric mouse had been beat from thundershocking an entire fleet of Pinchers (thrice in a row).

Ash on the other hand decided to take one sip of coffee before heading for bed, so he went for the kitchen. As soon as he entered he was taken aback by the sight of a certain redhead who was bending over, looking at something from the lower cabinets, and wearing a pair of black-pink leggings that were giving a clear visual on what she had on her behind.

"Holy Flaming Fires of Moltres" Ash muttered under his breath.

Misty apparently did not hear the man behind her and continued to look for whatever she was looking for.

Ash was just stood there completely frozen. He didn't know what to do. If he said something now it would be as if he was staring at her like a perv, if he just shut up and didn't say anything he'd still be accused of sexual misconduct or something.

"I found it!" Misty rejoiced and stood up straight revealing an old kettle, she then turned around "Now all I need is . . ." she stopped and froze when she saw Ash.

The two stared at each other in awkward silence the only sounds to be heard were the snores of Pikachu from the living room.

It was Misty who broke the silence "I uhh . . . didn't hear you come back in . . ." she looked away and bit her lip.

"I . . . uh didn't mean to disturb . . . you" his throat was getting dry and he was cursing himself for having thoughts of the woman before him, _damn it had it been that long?_

Still not looking at him she raised the kettle "I . . . uhh . . . just wanted to make some tea . . . would you like some?"

It was in here when Ash noticed something about her "Isn't that one of my old shirts?" he asked referring to the black top she currently wore.

The girl blushed "Umm . . . well they were comfy . . . and umm well . . . your mom suggested it after I got catcalled several times wearing the training bra and . . . umm . . . it's comfy?"

It could have been from stress, lack of sleep or just the fact that he _needed_ it; but without a second thought he had taken the kettle from her hands, threw it somewhere and pinned her to the kitchen counter.

* * *

Brock was taken away from his sleep when he heard a loud bang.

"What the heck was that?" he yawned and sat up on bed "Hey Misty did you hear that?" he asked the girl who was sleeping on the bunk bed above him.

There was no reply.

"Huh must be a deep . . ." then there was another bang. "What the heck is going on!?" he quickly got up from bed and noticed that his roommate was not with him.

"The girl probably went jogging, that fitness freak" the former gymleader muttered as he wore his robe and Bunnery slippers. He then exited the guest room "ALRIGHT WHO IS MAKING THAT LOUD NOISE!" he yelled at the hallway.

The sound then stopped which relieved Brock, but only for a moment.

In here Ash's head popped out of his room, shirtless and with really messy hair "Is anything the matter Brocko?"

Brock raised a brow "When did you come back?"

"Uhh . . ." the raven head scratched the back of his head "Just . . . a while back?"

The older man gave his friend a look "Have you seen Misty?"

At the mention of this Ash's face went completely red "Umm . . . yeah . . . she was . . . uhmm . . . I mean no . . . I didn't . . . I mean I just came back my head isn't really working right now . . . please try calling later?"

Brock crossed his arms "Ok Ash, just remember . . . the walls of your room isn't exactly sound proof"

/

 **Well if you put that song and the word Joy together of course a boner is the first thing you'd think of. It was "this" close to going to full on smut but I stopped myself. If you guys are ok with that tell me if not then we'll just keep implying those things happened.**

 **Jerkass Homer: All of the words and songs were already premade, but I did incorporate the jiggly part.**

 **Nami: We all love cheese.**

 **ElianaSawadaVongolaMadonna: :3**


	11. Kick

Word: Kick

Song: When It Was Me

Paula DeAnda

Paula DeAnda (2006)

/

"I think you've had enough" May was covering her ears to protect her ears from the loud sounds.

Misty just stared blankly "Just one more"

"You said that ten minutes ago" the coordinator jumped at another bang.

"Just . . . one . . . more"

"Misty you've run out of bullets"

The two girls were currently in a firing range, it was late in the afternoon and May was just with the redhead for moral support and to represent her conscience.

Misty was heavily breathing the Scorpion 22 WMR Pistol still aimed at human silhouette targets that had several shots on the head.

May knew that the older girl had a violent streak but she did not expect the mallet wielder to also be a gun wielder. "Umm . . . Misty . . . we . . . should go now" she noticed that there was an elderly man with a cane waiting for his turn to shoot.

" . . . One . . ."

"NO MORE!" May decided to swallow her fear and lower Misty's pistol "You've had enough, let's go"

She was still staring at the target as though her glares would shoot through the poor target dummy.

"Ok . . . she's gone blank" May muttered as she slowly tried to take the gun from the gym leader "Ok . . ." she raised the pistol "We're returning this . . . then going back to . . ."

All of a sudden in a blind fit of rage the redhead grabbed the cane of the elderly man behind her and banged it on the fire extinguisher strapped to the wall.

May couldn't help but gasp in shock and horror.

While the old man whose cane was taken just blinked in surprise "Hmm . . . my cane is harder than I thought" he said after seeing Misty break the fire extinguisher.

/

The night was spent in a cold cell prison, which did not settle in well for May.

"I didn't even do anything wrong!" May wept while holding onto the bars of their holding cell. "Now my public record is ruined"

Misty was just lying on the concrete floor with her feet up against the wall staring at nothing.

"Urghh . . . MISTY WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" the coordinator faced her friend "This is not the Misty I know and love! You're better than this!"

The redhead remained silent.

This urged May to continue "I know that things didn't work out great between the two of you. I know that you've been hurt but that doesn't mean you should be acting like this!"

"Well what else can I do?" the redhead finally spoke.

"First of all" May raised a finger "Call someone to bail us out" she raised another finger "Second of all, would it kill you to just cry and mope like a normal girl? You know violence isn't gonna get him to like you any better"

At this Misty pulled back her legs and sat up "But violence is the only thing I've done with him, it's been my way of communicating with him for the past ten years"

At this, the coordinator couldn't help but sweatdrop "Then that must be why things went this way" she muttered to herself.

"I'm pathetic aren't I?"

"More like dramatic really" May answered.

May couldn't see the gym leader's face since she was facing the wall and her back was facing her but she could sense the sad tone of her voice "Either way, I'm still an idiot. I had no other way to convey my feelings for him cause I thought that showing him another side of me would just ruin our relationship, but I guess it back-fired"

"Well to be fair Ash is a bigger idiot" the brunette smoothened out her mini skirt as she sat on the concrete floor "So I don't blame you totally for doing dumb stuff like that, but you have to take into consideration that even people like Ash eventually grow up"

Sighing "I don't even know why I'm mad in the first place, we didn't even have a relationship in the first place"

May leered "What do you mean you don't have a relationship, you pretty much do couple stuff all the time since well . . . since forever"

Misty shook her head "Nothing happened"

At this May raised a brow "Didn't you guys hook-up around the time he was in Sinnoh?"

"Sure we were both drunk then, but as I said nothing really happened. We slept on the same bed and that's it" she rolled her shoulders "Even when he's in that state he doesn't see me as a girl, I'm just plain old Misty" she snorted "I think that's what kinda stings the most for me"

May reached out her hand to try and comfort her "Misty . . ."

"It's my fault in the end" the redhead hugged her knees "I wasn't direct about my feelings, I thought that I was the only girl who would be able to get that close to him. I guess I was wrong"

"You don't have to kick yourself about Serena" May scratched the bottom of her cheek "I mean, you got some qualities she doesn't have"

At this Misty snorted again "Yeah, I'm loud, obnoxious and tomboyish while she's pretty, feminine and kind. Face it May I have no chance, and I won't take it against Serena either. It's not her fault, it's not Ash's fault"

"It's also not your fault"

Misty finally turned to her friend and in here the coordinator noticed the tear streaks on her face.

For a moment May's speech about self-love and empowerment went out the window as she crawled towards her friend and wrapped her arms around her.

As a reply, the redhead rested her head on May's shoulder "I guess I cried at the end"

"If you only did this earlier we would be doing this in a comfy bed, not a cold prison cell" despite the comment the brunette hugged the gym leader tighter "But I guess everyone has their own way to kick the sadness out of their system"


	12. Litigiousness

**Word: Litigiousness**

 **Meaning: an inclination to dispute or disagree with others, esp. through civil suits.**

 **Song: Something I Need**

 **Artist: One Republic**

 **Album: Native (2013)**

* * *

"No"

"Yes"

"I said no"

"I say yes"

"One of us has to be right"

"And that person is me"

"I beg to disagree"

"Well, I disagree too so, I guess we have something in common then"

"It's not an agreement to agree that we both don't agree on one thing to agree"

Ash raised his hands in exasperation "That doesn't make any sense"

"It does" Misty crossed her arms "It's just not something you can wrap your head around"

"So we're playing the 'Ash is dumb' card again are we ey?" the raven head groaned.

"Well it's a card that's effective"

"It's redundant and imprudent"

At this, the gym leader guffawed "Wow, big words do you even know what they mean?"

He rolled his eyes "Seriously, we're still riding on that"

"Ha" Misty pointed a finger "You don't know what they mean!"

"WE'RE GETTING OFF TOPIC WOMAN!"

"Now you're using sexist comments on me" Misty held her chest in faint pain "I can't believe it, Ashton James Ketchum . . ."

"SERIOUSLY? SERIOUSLY?" Ash wanted to just walk away right know seeing as their conversation was seemingly pointless, but if he did that she would rub the victory right at his face. "I DON'T EVEN HAVE A SECOND NAME!"

At this Misty was slightly taken aback "What really? Aren't people required to have second names?"

"What dumb law permits that"

"Umm, a law that ensures that people with the same name can have another name to distinguish different people?" Misty clarified "Who knows there might be another Ash Ketchum in Timbuktu or something"

Ash raised a finger "First of all, my mom is an only child as well so I'm the last of the Ketchums. Secondly, do you even have a second name?"

"I do not"

"WHAT THE HELL MISTY!"

"But I need a second name!" the redhead countered "I mean, there's a lot of Misty girls out there"

"The only other Misty I know is Father John Misty and that's obviously a guy, cause . . . he's a priest . . ."

"He's not a . . ." the redhead shook her head "We're off topic"

"We've been at that for a while actually"

She poked his chest "This is all your fault!"

"How is this my fault now" he swatted her finger "You're the one who's giving me stupid second names!"

"James is a good name!"

"Well tell that to Team Rocket!"

At this Misty paused "Umm . . . ok not that good of a name. But that doesn't mean you can't have one"

"For goodness Mist just give it up!" the trainer rubbed his forehead "I'm getting a headache"

"Well, I'm getting a sore throat from all this yelling!"

"Then stop yelling and talk in a normal tone geebus, Mist it's three in the morning you probably woke up everyone because of your constant nagging!"

"Now you're the one yelling"

"Cause I'm exasperated!"

"Wow another big word"

"Can you just please accept the fact that I'm not an idiot, just dense"

"I will when you actually show signs of having a brain"

"You know what" Ash closed his eyes and looked up the ceiling trying to calm himself "I'm probably stupid after all"

A smug smile showed on Misty's face "So you finally admit it"

"I do" he faced her "I'm an idiot cause I'm still wasting my time having a pointless argument about something but it went waaaaay out of proportion that it went to a point where this argument is not about who's right or wrong but who has the biggest pride between the both of us."

The redhead just stared at him in shock not knowing what to say while Ash just panted after letting that out of his system.

After a brief silence passed between the two.

"I guess we're both idiots" Misty finally said before going into a full hearty laugh. Ash then later followed suit joining her. The two laughed for a good five minutes before slowing down as Misty wiped the tears in her eyes "To think that after all these years we'd still have such petty fights"

"It reminds me of when we were younger" Ash held onto his stomach.

That was when a young girl at around the age of ten who had short red hair and chocolate brown eyes came into the room "Granpa, Grandma, it's three in the morning why did you have to fight this early"

At this Misty once again chuckled "You see your Grandfather . . . umm . . . what were we fighting about again?"

"I think it's about the toilet seat"

"No, it's your medication"

"Woman it's the toilet seat!"

Stomping her foot "It is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

While the old married couple continued their fight their grand-daughter just groaned "I hope I don't fish out or get fished by my future husband anytime soon"

* * *

 **I'm sorta back, trying to finish this drabbles before the new term begins. Might be a little shorter than usual but the next one will surely be long.  
**

 **So Please Review :3**


	13. Magnitogorsk

**Word: Magnitogorsk**

 **Description: an industrial city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the eastern side of the extreme southern extent of the Ural Mountains by the Ural River.**

 **Song: Monster**

 **Artist: Paramore**

 **Album: Transformers - Dark of the Moon OST (2011)**

/

The Indigo Reformation was a dark piece of history. It was an age that was best described with grey skies and red grass fields. It was an age of savagery, it was a time where Pokémon Battles were life or death, and tournaments were determined the political future of a region.

Gyms were now ways to recruit trainers and whip them into soldiers to fight for the region, Pokémon Centers didn't just heal Pokémon anymore and Champions were now in the forefront of battle.

Mt. Moon was the centre of Kanto's moonstone production. After years of research and development scientists have discovered ways in which to harness these rocks into weapons of war at the same time ways to benefit Pokémon (particularly in evolution) in battle. It was because of this that Pewter city became one of the top weapons manufacturers in all of Indigo.

It was the aftermath of the Phenac Seige wherein several bombs dropped at the city killing over several residents and Pokémon and completely destroying the desert oasis. It wasn't exactly clear on which region took responsibility for the attack, but there were clear indicators pointing it to either Team Aqua or Team Magma.

"Alright, sooner or later they're going to take over Johto and after that we're next!" yelled a small man wearing an overly large construction helmet "That means our forces need those weapons and ammo built pronto! We need to be able to defend this region from those bastard fascists!"

There was mumbling among the crowd of factory workers.

"I thought Hoenn people were Buddhists?"

"He calls anyone who disagrees with him a fascist"

"Do you really think they'll come here next?"

"Exactly who runs Orre? Aren't they an independent state?"

In the midst of whispers and working steam engines a certain redhead seemed to be thinking of other things from carving moonstone and just stared at the window which gave a view of Mount Moon.

"You okay Misty?" the redhead turned over to see the son of the head of the plant, Brock. "You seem to be in deep thought"

The girl crossed her arms "Have my sisters been too much trouble again? They really aren't used to manual labour"

"It can't be helped" Brock shrugged "They do seem to be trying"

"I doubt, I saw Lily flirting with one of the miners" Misty shook her head "I honestly doubt they know what the term exile means"

Brock gave the girl a look "You have something else bothering you it seems"

For a moment the younger girl hesitated before saying "Is it true? That . . . he's enlisted?"

"It's the League's orders, any qualified trainer with enough experience is forced to enlist" in here the normally calm man had a worried look on his face "To be honest I was pretty shocked when I heard the news as well"

"Does that mean I have to be enlisted as well? How about you?" Misty asked.

"I have to run the factory sadly, the League didn't take too lightly on my dad abandoning his work earlier" he then faced her "And while they usually let Gym Leaders fight, the Cerulean Gym doesn't seem to have a good representation as of the moment"

At this Misty banged the wall in anger "This is ridiculous, I'm not my sisters I can actually battle and fight!"

"Your Gyarados is unstable and the rest of your team are babies, sure you got Politoed, Starmie and Staryu but you need at least eight Pokémon to register"

"So what! I've got Psyduck! And don't underestimate Corsola!" she waved her fist in the air.

"That still makes six" Brock held unto her shoulders "And you have to remember, this ain't just a random battle, people and Pokémon will die, you already saw what happened in Cerulean and Phenac"

At this Misty grit her teeth and fisted both palms "But . . . what about Ash! He's just a kid! The only reason he's got that much Pokémon in his arsenal is that of his rotten luck!"

"He didn't take Pikachu with him"

"Well, of course, he would drag . . ." she paused for a moment "He didn't take Pikachu?"

"Before he enlisted he left Pikachu with his mom at Pallet town" Brock shook his head "Apparently he didn't want to risk it"

At the revelation of this the girl's face immediately went pale "He's actually serious about this"

Brock sighed then turned to the window "None of us knew that it would come to this, but sadly it did"

"He's . . . he can't . . ." she looked at Brock "Is he still . . ."

"He's been in Indigo for months now, sooner or later he's gonna get deployed somewhere"

"How about Gary? Did he?"

Brock nodded "They enlisted the same day"

"Mew . . . . I need some air" at once the redhead ran off the factory ignoring the stares of other workers there and the yelling of their midget sized boss.

This was not happening.

She ran past the dirty streets of Pewter. The formerly clear blue skies were now ash-grey, the sounds of birds chirping were replaced with engine motors and gunfire, the cheerful atmosphere was now replaced with dread and grief.

She didn't know how long she had been running, she had already left the city limits and now found herself at Route 3. Her speed running was put to a halt when she tripped on some rocks and fell face first into the grass. She was sure that there were scrapes on her knees right now but she didn't care.

"You idiot" she fisted the dirt into her hands "Why . . . why did . . . you're too nice for war" tears started to roll down her face it was only a few moments later when she was now bawling her eyes out. She didn't care right now that she was wearing rags, covered in dirt and her face looked for worst.

She just wished for all of this to be over.

/

 **Magnitogorsk was a really big ore producer for the Soviet Union so I thought I'd incorporate that there. Was originally gonna put some actual war battles but Pokémon Battling is not my strong suit.**

 **Well we got a depressing one this time. Hopefully the next one is more positive. Thanks to tmp1114 for favoriting me and this story.**


	14. Nobleman

Word: Nobleman

Song: Teardrop

Artist: Massive Attack

Album: Mezzanine (1998)

 **Note: This is set on the day of Apparition (One Shot Letter A)**

* * *

"He was a good man"

That's what was always said whenever someone passes on. There's some unspoken rule that if a man who wasn't a criminal leaves the earth he's best described as a saint. Whenever people talk behind the podium in front of a casket they always speak of the deceased's best assets. On how they impacted their lives, and how they're probably in a better place now.

It's a shame that all praises would never be heard by the dead ever again.

Now on a sunny day in a small chapel in the middle of Pallet Town people have gathered to pay their respects to a man who one way or another defined the sleepy town. Majority of the attendees were residents of the town and some were members of the League, there would have been more people if it wasn't stated in the deceased's will that his funeral becomes a quiet event.

It was ironic that a man of such status and prestige who lived a life of adventure in his youth decides to go out in silence. There would never be a man like him they say. And they're right.

No man can ever replace Professor Oak.

And there's no one who knows that better than the trainers he left behind.

"I've never seen Mr Goodshow soo . . . out of it" Misty commented as she stood behind the church wearing a black funeral dress she borrowed from her sister Lily. She was at the back as she was assisting in preparing for the lunch that would happen after the burial.

"It can't be helped" a voice spoke behind Misty shocking her a bit "He was a good friend to the Professor"

The redhead turned around to see Delia Ketchum who was wearing a black gown embedded with rhinestones on the collarbone area and on sides of the dress. Her hair was tied in an updo, despite being in her late forties she looked like she was still in her twenties.

Despite the atmosphere, Misty felt a little bit awkward standing next to an elegant lady and she just wore a cheap cotton dress and a ridiculous tiny hat. She's going to do shopping soon after this.

Delia let out a heavy sigh "I never thought this day would come so soon" she touched her own cheek "It's as though it were yesterday when I first met him while Ash was still in my belly"

"He's pretty much Ash's dad at this point" Misty tried to give a smile and be positive.

Delia, on the other hand, seemed to be in another world "For as long as I could remember he would always have this smile on his face whenever he released trainers on that day" she placed a hand on Misty's shoulder "And the fact that he keeps tabs on every single one of them. If anything Professor Oak was the Father of Pallet Town"

Misty looked at the older woman's hand, despite her appearance from the looks of this woman's hand she'd been through a lot.

"I'll be checking up on the fried Kingdra" Delia clapped her hands together "It'll taste good with Shellder and mushrooms" and with that, the woman went her merry way.

The water trainer blinked for a moment before exiting the church "Umm wait! I'll help . . ." she was about to catch up to the Ketchum woman before she was pulled aside by someone.

"Young lady" it was no other than former Elite Four Member and estranged spouse of the late Oak, Agatha "Could you do me a favour?" when Misty turned to face her she recognized her "Ah it's you Misty"

In contrast to Delia who was classy but, warm Agatha, on the other hand, was the classy and cold type of person. Despite wearing also a hat it seems to make the elderly woman more intimidating.

"Umm, yes, anything ma'am" Misty was never a formal person but she knew when to be one.

Still having some iron grip on the gym leader's arm "Could please look for my grandson, he's due to speak in a few moments and it seems he's wandered off somewhere. I sent the Champion to look for him but they haven't returned yet"

Nodding her head "I'll see what I can do ma'am"

"Good" the older woman let go of Misty's arm "Now go"

Ignoring the pain in her feet Misty tried to go as far away as possible from the Ghost-type trainer, sometimes she wondered if she was really Gary's grandmother. As soon as she reached the bottom of the hill the redhead let out a sigh "Now where could they be"

First, she checked the laboratory but all she found was Delia and Daisy Oak along with other housewives cooking lunch, she then checked other parts of the lab but even after asking Bulbasaur and the other Pokémon she still had no luck. She tried looking at Oak Manor itself but even the butler didn't know where the young master went. By the time she reached the fishing port her feet were red and she was fanning herself with the tiny hat.

"Damn it where did those two go?" she finally then fell down on the pier by mere exhaustion leaning unto boxes for support "Should have just asked Brock or Tracey to go find them these heels are killing me"

"Then why keep wearing them Red" a cocky voice spoke from behind.

Immediately Misty gave the guy a glare "WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU!?" she started to remove her heel and threatened to use it against him since her mallet was absent.

Gary lifted his hands "Chill Red, sheesh, I was just asking a sensible question"

"I was asking another. . . " it was in here she noticed that Gary's suit was a little . . . muddy. His white shirt had mud stains, there were also some in his pants and he also had a bad lip. "What happened to you did you wrestle an Ursaring or something?"

The Oak heir pressed his lips together "I wouldn't call him an Ursaring . . ."

"So have you seen Ash then?" the gym leader stood up "You're grandmother's been looking for you"

"Well grandma never could resist me" Gary winked.

This made Misty narrow her eyes at him "Let's just go then, Ash probably got lost looking for you"

Almost immediately the cocky look on Gary's face faded "Nah, he's already there"

"Oh then let's go" Misty groaned "Damn I should have put some lotion or something"

"And you call yourself a Sensational Sister," Gary said walking behind her on their way to the church "And they're not even that high"

By irritation, Misty spun around and pulled the rich bastard by the collar "Then why don't you try wearing them yourself and see how you like it!"

Raising a palm to put between his face and Misty's "I'll pass"

"Thought so" she let go and huffed before turning back.

Dusting his clothes "Geez, why does everyone keep trying to beat me up today?"

"Cause you deserve it, you twat" Misty snarled, she knew she shouldn't be harsh at him especially on a day like today but not only was she tired from walking around but the guy was really getting on her nerves.

"You're even more insensitive than Ashy-boy" Gary placed his hands on his pocket as they neared the church "At least the guy didn't even say anything just gave me a left-hook and left"

This caught her attention "He did what?!"

"There you are!" called out Falkner "We've been looking everywhere for you since you guys were so long they made the Champion do the eulogy"

This surprised Misty "They made Ash do it?" her face went pale "But he's terrible at speeches"

Gary, on the other hand, seemed amused "This will be interesting"

The Violet City gym leader beckoned them to come inside "Come on guys, also Oak I think you need a little dusting"

"Nah, it'll be fine" Gary waved dismissively as they entered "Gramps will probably be rolling on the floor if he knew what happened"

As soon as they entered they noticed that the room was quite silent. Right in front of the room, behind the podium was the Kanto-Johto Champion who from the looks of it was spaced out.

Misty whispered to Falkner "What's going on?"

The Flying type trainer whispered back "Ever since he stepped on the podium he's hasn't said one word"

"Oh dear . . ." as soon as Misty muttered that a screeching sound erupted from the front "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

Gary was covering her ears "Hey Red no cursing in the House of the Lord" he remarked.

Immediately her cheeks went pink "Shut up"

It was there that a screeching sound was gone and everything was in order again. But it was then replaced tapping noises.

"Umm . . . so . . . this thing works now?" Ash asked, he then proceeded to make random sounds to check if the mike really was working "WAAAAA! CRAAAA! CREEE! BLAAAA! WOOOT! WOOOT! The wheels on the bus go round and round! Round and round!" and almost immediately everyone in the room did a face-palm.

Somewhere in the room, Karen of the Elite Four could be heard saying "Well, that's our Champion"

When Ash realized that not only was the mike now working properly but everyone in the room had heard little 'sound check', this made him quite red "Umm . . . sorry err. . . well, that was a rocky start? Hehehe" he turned to one side "Shit"

"ASHTON KETCHUM DID YOU JUST SAY WHAT I THOUGHT YOU SAID!" yelled one very angry Delia Ketchum holding a metal bowl a stirring what looks to be eggs and cake batter.

Agatha looked confused "What on Ho-Oh's land is going on?"

Gary was covering his hand hiding his chuckling "Gramps is probably rolling in his grave"

"Alright everyone, settle down" Ash raised his arms "I apologize for the early umm technical error . . ." he tapped the mike and another screech was heard so he immediately jumped back "Err . . . yep . . . and mom!" he pointed at his mother "That was a . . . sound error . . . yeah . . . and I'm a twenty-five-year-old man you can't ground me"

"Ash . . . you're making things worst" Misty covered her face with shame.

"Ah man, this is just . . . well . . . hooo . . . I can imagine the Professor shaking his head at me" Ash rubbed the back of his head "Of all the things you have you mess up it's my eulogy, yep" he nodded his head "Well to be fair the guy who was supposed to do this was his grandson so Gary where you at, but . . ." he rubbed his chin "I'm the Champion so . . . I gotta say at least something . . . nice and . . . formal . . ."

"Someone please record this moment" Gary was doing a slow clap "I want this to play in my funeral"

"So" Ash did a cough "What can I say about the Professor, well . . . he hates tofu. Like I remember one time I caught a Krabby and I got really spooked that maybe Professor Oak would eat my Krabby cause you know everyone loves eating it, turns out Gary boy caught a bigger one than I did . . . anyway, I'm getting sidetracked."

"When I think of the Professor well I thought of him as my own Santa Claus in a way with the lab as his north pole and the Pokémon as his elves. Growing up in a small town like Pallet town you really never see much Pokémon except maybe a Pidgey, but going to visit Professor Oak was basically Christmas for me." He laughed and rubbed the back of his head "I guess everyone here probably knows about how I overslept on my first day right?"

"All too well Ketchum!" screamed Vermillion Lt. Surge this was followed by a couple of laughs.

Scratching the bottom of his cheek "Yeah, it's not my greatest moment but it's probably one of the Professor's. Call it stupidity or wisdom but the fact that he gave me a really wild unstable Pikachu as my starter is probably the best thing the Professor has done for. Well aside from the fact that he endures the hugs of Muk but yeah . . ." slowly his face went somber "To everyone else in the room you'd call the Professor a stubborn man and that's quite true for most of the time but I believe the one thing that sets him apart from everyone is . . . his haiku skills!" he lifted his thumb with enthusiasm.

For a second time that day everyone face-palmed.

Except for Dawn who lifted her fist "HELL YEAH!" which she quickly regretted after a few seconds but she was still smiling.

This made Ash chuckle a bit "Okay, in all honesty, the Professor was . . . someone who . . . never gave up on people. He never gave up on the League during its early days, he never gave up on his students who eventually became regional professors themselves and he never gave up on me and Gary despite the fact we probably destroy a part of the lab every time we met" again another laugh from the crowd "And who would have thought we'd actually do something with our lives . . . especially me."

He did a bitter smile "Whenever people ask about my dad I usually just say he's off somewhere doing his own adventure or something. I never really got mad at him because, well I never knew him and he probably doesn't know anything about me." he did a sigh "But that doesn't mean I never had a father figure in my life, I mean watching Lance on TV made me a slightly well-adjusted person"

Bruno then commented "That explains everything!" only to get hit by Karen.

Ash continued "Okay in a real serious note. I really owe my upbringing not only to my wonderful and beautiful Mother who I love very much" he made a major emphasis to get on her good side again "And the Professor, who taught me almost everything I should know about Pokémon. He thought me to respect them, he taught me to treat them as friends and not as mere tools and lastly he taught me to appreciate everything that comes my way. Sure you can say he's sorta my dad . . ." he thought for a moment "Does that make me Gary's uncle?"

"PERISH THE THOUGHT PLEASE!" Gary yelled.

"Yeah, you're too bratty to be my nephew" Ash waved his hand dismissively "Sure you think the Professor's my dad but in the end he's just the . . . the Professor. He's my mentor and my closest friend and I wouldn't have it any other way" Ash turned to look at the coffin "And I'm glad that I was able to spend a portion of my life with you. To me you're the true Pokémon Master" he then went over to the coffin and did a low bow "We'll miss you Professor" he whispered.

There was silence in the room before slowly everyone in the room rose up and followed Ash suit and did one bow of respect to the nobleman.

* * *

May let out one big sigh later during the lunch "It's a miracle Ash actually made a decent sounding speech"

Max was munching on the tiny pumpkin pies "If he keeps this up people might forget that whole debacle in the Indigo League two years ago"

Immediately May cringed "Max! Don't bring that up now!"

"Baby steps Max" Dawn patted the boy's head (he was still a boy to her despite him being almost the same height as she was).

Max pouted "Still though he came through"

"What really surprised me was Gary" May raised her fork "Sure he didn't cry during his eulogy but when we actually lowered the coffin he was balling his eyes out"

"You can't blame him" Dawn replied "He's his grandfather after all"

"Yeah" Max swallowed the pie "Even Agatha was crying"

That was when Misty came by to the group "Hey guys have you seen Ash?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

"Oh no we have . . ." May's eyes then widened "OH NO BROCK IS GONNA DO KARAOKE AGAIN!" she pointed before running off and dragging Max.

"Hey! Why are you pulling me!?" the younger boy whined while holding his plate.

"Just help me with Brock!" May tossed away her spoon somewhere and dragged Max to assist her with the probably very intoxicated Brock.

That left with both Dawn and Misty to sigh then giggle afterwards.

"Some things never change huh?" Dawn shrugged.

Misty tried to smile but it came out forced "I guess . . ."

This led for the coordinator to become worried "Is something bothering you Misty?"

"Well umm . . . it's probably nothing but" Misty bit her lip "I'm worried about Ash"

Dawn blinked in confusion "What he seems fine. If there's anyone who's a mess it's Gary and Tracey"

"I know but . . . it may sound silly but" the redhead let out a sigh "He hasn't cried yet"

"What?"

Misty played with the fabric of her dress "From the moment we heard of the Professor . . . passing till now he never cried"

"Umm . . ." Dawn seemed unsure "Maybe he's not a crier?"

"I've known him for more than a decade" Misty tightened her grip "I've seen him cry, I know he cries from leaving his Pokémon to Pokémon dying I've seen it all. And that's fine but, what scares me is when he doesn't"

* * *

 **Hi, been a while since I updated this thing. Could have been a Halloween themed one but Apparition seemed to be a better fit. This was also supposed to have more drama but I could see Ash fumbling through a speech and getting side-tracked a lot so there.**

 **So Happy Halloween Guys!**

 **Leave a review if you like?**


	15. Overjoy

Word: Overcoy

Song: At Last

Artist: Etta James

Album: At Last! (1960)

* * *

 **Setting: Occurs around two hours after Damsel (Letter D One Shot)**

* * *

"And now mesdames et Messieurs I present to you, Monsieur et Madame Shock!" Fantina, who was the host, waved her hand towards the newlywed couple.

All the guests clapped while others cheered and then there's Flint who was hollering like a wild Mankee and drunkenly hugging everyone around him telling everyone he was worried his best friend would never find love only to come to a realization that he himself was single.

While the happy couple was having their first dance Misty, on the other hand, was 'glamorously' kneeling in front of the toilet with her cheek against the toilet seat, her eyes watery, mascara dripping around her face and just a general mood of feeling utterly terrible.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help you there?" Ash called from outside the cubicle, he was lucky that the girl's restroom was currently unoccupied or he would be asked several concerning questions he didn't want to answer.

Lifting her face from the marble lavatory "I think I'm good"

"I got some wipes from the maids" he looked at the package "Though I don't know if barf and baby poop are under the same category"

Groaning "Just slip them under"

This made Ash frown "Are you sure you're okay? I practically had to carry you here"

"Ash . . . just . . . let me be for a while" she leaned against the cubicle wall and covered her face with her hands "I'm a mess right now"

He sighed "Why did you drink that much alcohol then?"

Not removing her palms "It was a survival tactic"

"Survival?" the trainer asked incredulously "It's not like they're gonna eat you or wrap you around Spinerak web"

"You're making me wanna hurl again"

"That's it I'm coming in" Ash opened the cubicle and the first thing he saw was the remnants of the parmesan crusted Whiscash fillets on the toilet "Okay, that looks gross"

Looking up at her friend with a flushed face (probably from puking and embarrassment or anger) "WHY DID YOU COME IN!? I TOLD YOU NOT TOO!" she yelled.

Ash then turned his attention to Misty whose face was totally flushed, make-up ruined, hair messed up and very unhealthily pale. Or simply in two words: a mess.

"Moltres of Holy Fire" Ash crouched down to her level "You look like shit"

Rolling her eyes "Well gee thanks for pointing out the obvious . . ." again she felt she was gonna hurl and went back puking to the toilet.

Ash cringed upon watching her release vomit "Gosh how much did you eat tonight"

After finishing her barf she snatched the wipes from Ash's hand and took one to clean her mouth "I dunno, your mom is a really good cook Ash no one can deny her food"

"She'll be disappointed to see you throw up the good food she worked on" he pulled another wipe from the packet and proceeded to wipe her face "Seriously though you look like a Mister Mime that got hit by Zap Cannon or something"

Misty snatched the wipe from his hand "I'll do it, you rubbing it too hard" she said cleaning off the make-up from her place.

Ash's shoulders slumped "Look I'm just trying to help could you at least pretend to appreciate it"

"Okay" she rested her hands on her lap "Thanks, I'm sorry I'm being a prissy bitch"

Rolling his eyes at her sarcastic tone "That'll do I guess" he stood up "Come on, I'll take you back home"

Looking up at him with surprise "We're leaving now? What time is it?"

"I dunno what time it is but it's really dark outside" offering his hand to her "And are you sure you wanna go back there with no make-up?"

Misty weighed her options before sighing and taking his hand "Fine . . ." she stumbled a bit in standing up but luckily Ash was able to support her.

"That's it" he wrapped one arm on her back and the other under her legs and lifted her up so suddenly that her shoes fell off.

Her face was red earlier but now it was deep bright red "ASH! What are you?"

"Crap how I do I flush the toilet right now" Ash wondered.

"Are you even listening to me?!"

* * *

It was pitch dark at Pallet town the only lights coming from the moon and the cheap street lamps that don't work really well and keep blinking. When they left the manor Misty was quite loud in her protests and demanded Ash put her down by now that they were half-way to the Ketchum residence she had stopped screaming and remained silent.

"Awfully quiet now aren't we?" Ash turned to the girl who had crossed her arms and had a pout on her face. "Come on; be happy you're not walking in heels"

"You left my shoes in the restroom" she muttered.

"We'll get them tomorrow" Ash shrugged "It's not like they were your sisters' or something"

"That's the thing Ash" Misty glared at him "Those pairs of shoes were actually mine, I bought those shoes with my own money so I'm not just gonna let it go!"

Releasing a deep sigh "Come on Mist, we're almost home"

"I didn't ask to be carried" she looked away from him.

"Misty" Ash said in a stern voice.

"What?" she glared.

"I could drop you right now"

". . . You wouldn't"

He loosened his grip on her.

"YOU BASTARD!" she gripped on his shirt collar "DON'T DO SHIT LIKE THAT!"

This made him chuckle "You really are a terrible person"

"How am I terrible!?" Misty poked his cheek "You almost killed me just now"

"That would only break your back, possibly" Ash retorted "But not kill you"

"I could fracture my skull"

"Then don't lower your head when you fall"

"How can I not lower my head? Gravity will just pull it!"

"You just want a reason to haunt me"

"I don't need another reason for that"

"So you do want to haunt me"

"Maybe I'd rather you die"

"Then I'll haunt you"

"You already did when we were kids!"

Ash stopped walking for a moment "Did I?" he then remembered "Oh yeeaaaah, yeah I did haha"

Misty rolled her eyes "Seriously this guy"

"We're here" Ash declared as they reached the front of his house, judging from the fact that the lights were off meant that Delia was probably still at the wedding. "Umm, would you mind opening the gate?"

The girl sighed "You could just put me down you know" she said reaching out to unlatch the gate and the later unlock the house.

"Finally, home!" Ash then unceremoniously dropped Misty into the living room sofa.

The girl let out a yelp as she crashed into the couch and gave the guy a glare "Well, I half expected that"

Still with a cheeky smile "Well I'm gonna go get a drink, you need anything Mist?" he stretched his arms as he went for the kitchen.

Immediately Misty's face went green at the word 'drink' "Oh please . . . no more alcohol"

"I was actually thinking something along the lines of coffee or tea" Ash called out from the kitchen.

Misty contemplated, her stomach did need something and as ungentle he was it was nice that Ash was taking care of her "I'll have some tea please"

"You got it"

The girl then tried to adjust her position in the couch propping a pillow behind her back "By the way where's Pikachu?"

"He's probably with mom or still trying to rob Volkner's cousins of their money by playing Baccarat or something"

She raised a brow "Since when did Pikachu gamble?"

"Trust me I have no idea, I don't even go the casinos for their slot machines" there was then a crash heard followed by Ash cursing.

Misty faced the kitchen door "Are you okay there? Is making the tea that complicated for you?" she teased.

"I'm perfectly fine Mist; it's not a national disaster . . . yet"

"I'm gonna try and hold on that 'yet'"

"Please do . . . where the hell is . . . oh there . . . wait do you put salt in tea?"

"On second thought I'll have grape juice"

"Are you sure?" Ash's popped from the kitchen entrance "I can make tea though"

Crossing her arms "Sure you do" the girl tried to relax on the sofa "Thanks by the way"

"So now you're being nice"

Misty twitched her eye "I'm being considerate"

"Whatever you say Mist" Ash came out of the kitchen holding two steaming mugs in his hand; one was in the shape of a Litwick the other a Pumpkaboo.

She took the Litwick mug "Aww this is cute" she cooed "Looks like a tiny candle"

"It becomes a lamp and a chandelier when it levels up" Ash took a seat on the easy chair by the fireplace and took a sip of his drink.

Misty blinked looking at the mug "Pokémon . . . are . . . unpredictable" she sipped her tea.

Ash just chuckled in reply.

The two friends just sipped drank in silence, while she still had a bit of a headache her nausea was earlier was gone. Miraculously Ash didn't mess up in making the tea but she can't be too sure if the kitchen was still in pristine condition. She watched her friend and she noticed that he had taken off his jacket and tie showing the grey vest and white shirt he had underneath. He was sipping his mug and staring off into the distance, if it weren't for the Pumpkaboo mug she would have thought he was some fancy rich kid like Gary was and not the stupid dork she knew.

"It's kinda weird to see you dressed like that," she said speaking out her thoughts.

This surprised Ash as he faced her "Huh?"

"I dunno" Misty put down her cup "I'm so used to seeing you in jeans, a cap and mud that whenever you actually clean up your act and dress nice it's . . . kinda unsettling in a way"

"If it helps" Ash threw the fedora he had on his head revealing his oh no unkempt hair "I didn't bother putting gel in my hair"

The redhead smiled and rolled her eyes "Okay, now I feel sooo much better"

Ash snorted as he finished his drink "Glad to see you've recovered from spilling out your guts"

"You just had to ruin that feel good moment" Misty lay on the couch and rested her head on the pillow "You know you didn't have to go through all that trouble"

He shrugged "It's nothing really; I mean it's like me repaying you for what you did back in the Orange Islands"

Misty closed her eyes "Oh yeah, that time you and Tracey got stunned spored" she chuckled "You guys were such idiots"

"At least that was an accident" Ash rested his chin on his hand "Yours was self-inflicted"

Immediately she turned her back against him "Oh shush if you were in my position you would do the same thing"

"If I were in your position I would take their servings because I know they wouldn't touch the meat cause of their gluten-free diet" Ash teased.

She folded her arms "Not everyone had you bottomless stomach Ash"

"I'm just saying, at least you won't get a headache in the morning" he stood up and took her cup "So you gonna sleep in the couch tonight?"

Still not facing him "I don't think I have the energy to walk up the stairs"

"Want me to carry you again?" he asked heading for the kitchen.

She lifted her head "Why do you like carrying me around all of the sudden?"

"I was just offering Mist"

She sniffled "Now that I think about it, you've been pretty . . . gentlemanly tonight"

"Are you saying I can't be one?"

"No I know you're a goodie two shoes" she inclined her head "It's just, you taking care of me feels . . . weird"

Ash exited the kitchen with his sleeves rolled up "Maybe you're still drunk"

Looking away from him "It's not that"

He went over to her at the couch and sat next to her "Are you sure Mist? Your face is all red"

Closing her eyes "Ash"

"Yes?"

"Why are you so dense?"

His eyes darted at her "What?"

She bowed her head "You know what forget it, we should probably sleep" she stood up and was about to leave only for Ash to grab her hand. "What?"

Chocolate-brown eyes stared at her intensely and for some reason, she was getting goosebumps "You sure you okay?" he asked her with a worried tone.

"Ash . . ." she let go of his grip "I'm a big girl I can take care of the consequences of my own stupid mistakes you don't have to worry about me"

"I guess" Ash sighed and leaned back against the couch "It's just . . . you're always there for me when I do something stupid"

She blushed "You don't have to repay me; I was just doing what I needed to do" she started to take an interest at the blue polyester carpet on the floor "I mean if I didn't then you would die drowning or something"

"Hey Mist" he called.

She looked up "Yeah . . ." all of a sudden stood up went over her and kissed her on the cheek. Immediately her face had gotten even redder than earlier, her pupils went huge and there was some part of her brain saying she should smack him with her mallet but sadly (or lucky for Ash's case) she did not have it with her.

Ash, on the other hand, seemed very confused by her reaction "Misty are you sure you don't have a . . ."

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR?!" the gym leader screeched and held onto her cheek, mentally she was scolding herself for reacting like this but this was Ash Ketchum, it was beyond logic on what that damn idiot pulled out such a move on her it's embarrassing.

He lifted his hands and backed away "Umm . . . I dunno, I remember Dawn talking about how sons kissing their mothers is better than a greeting card or something"

Misty blinked "Are you implying . . . that I'm your mother?"

His face reddened "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN!" he waved his hands "I mean I . . . well actually it's just you . . . have this thing . . . were you take care of things . . . and it's nice and then you do it to me . . . and it feels really nice and I. . . . um you know . . . want something more out of it and I . . . shit . . . " he bowed his head "Just smack me with your mallet, it'd be easier on both of us"

Letting out a sigh "You know . . . sometimes I don't know what to do with you"

Rubbing the back of his head "Yeah . . . I don't know what to do with myself either"

"So . . ." pointing her fingers together "What do you mean you wanted something more?"

Ash swallowed his Adam 's apple "Well . . . what do you want it to mean?"

* * *

 **Thanks to foochuankit and cake0108 for following this story.**

 **cake0108: Thank you :3**

 **And shout out to Guest reviewer whose little comments put a smile on my face.**


	16. Potency

Word: Potency

Song: What is Happening

Artist: Alphabeat

Album: This is Alphabeat (2007)

* * *

Brock would probably look at them and say something along the lines of 'Not again' or 'Isn't this getting tiring?' or any other statement that would make them be a bit shameful for having another argument.

It was true though when they were children it was adorable. He was ten and she was twelve, thus it was normal for people of their age group to fight with the opposite gender. As they travelled and grew up throughout the years they have argued about almost every topic that was imaginable. From the bike to poor training skills to bugs to familiar disputes to make up to whether or not you would fart inwards or outwards in space. Yes, they knew very well their debates were stupid but that didn't stop them one bit.

Despite Misty no longer travelling with Ash they still go at it, may it be in person, over the phone or by calling out the other on whatever social media platform they could hold their hands on. And time and time again people would at first be shocked, be fascinated, then later get tired of it then try to tell them to stop only to no avail.

"Do you two do anything else than fight?" the redhead was once asked by Dawn while they were at some chic book café in Sunnyshore City that the coordinator dragged her in.

Misty didn't look up from reading _Mondo Piccolo: Don Camillo_ "Yes we do, we eat, we sleep, I battle trainers and maintain the gym he runs off from region to region while indirectly but directly maintaining the peace and stability of time and space because he just somehow has an effect on that for some reason"

This made the younger girl blink, she was about to ponder on why Ash of all people was chosen to restore balance on the fate of Pokémon and humans but decided that was definitely off topic. "You have a point" she simply said.

The gym leader just hummed as she continued reading about a priest and a communist mayor, Misty was not one to pry into religion and politics but she found literature on the topic interesting at best.

After moments of being a gaping Magicarp, the blunette recovered and asked "I'm being honest and curious Misty. You've been with Ash for who knows how long . . ."

"We only started going out three months ago" Misty turned a page.

"Officially" Dawn rolled her eyes "Anyway, so you're going out. Yet despite that whenever the two of you are in the same room you're screaming at each other, heck even on group dates you get on each other's bad side"

Misty lifted her eyes from her reading to look at Dawn "Is this about your failed double-date with Kenny during Valentines?"

Immediately the Sinnoh native blushed "It's not a double date! It was . . . a . . . group hangout!"

Misty returned to her book "Sure Dawn" a smirk erupted on her face "I didn't know you were into orgies"

"MISTY!" Dawn squealed so loud a couple of the customers turned to her to keep quiet, she lowered her voice "I'm . . . not . . ." the younger girl's blush was getting into a deeper red as she spoke "I don't even like . . . those sorta things. . . I mean I . . . kinda . . . well . . ."

Keeping her calm composure Misty replied "You shouldn't be shy to say sex Dawn, you're almost 18"

"I'm not shy to say . . ." Dawn croaked ". . . That word . . ."

Misty hummed.

Dawn clutched her skirt "You changed the topic"

"I was just making conversation Dawn"

The blunette frowned "You're not even looking at me"

"We're at a book café; it'd be rude to not at least read one book" Misty looked up "Also for the record, Ash and I do have normal dates. That is if Team Rocket or a rare Pokémon don't pop out of nowhere"

Dawn leaned back against her seat "Like what?"

"It's kinda boring details" the redhead went to take a sip of her short macchiato "I mean we did eat out . . . once. But because he's usually tired from coming from wherever he came and I'm tired from gym duty we just order take out and binge watch Netflix before sleeping on the couch"

"Well . . ." Dawn rested her chin on the table "I guess it's something you guys would do but I thought you were a romantic?"

At this Misty snorted "Please, this is Ash we're talking about. The most romantic thing he did to me was giving me half burnt toast"

"I guess" as Dawn said that an instrumental of _Under the Sea_ started playing from Misty's bag and immediately the Cerulean Gym Leader snatched the ringing phone and pressed a button before slamming it on the table.

They were quiet for a moment when again the phone started ringing again only this time Misty let it ring until the chorus not answering what was obviously a call.

Dawn did not need to look at the phone screen to know who was calling "You got into a fight with Ash again didn't you?"

"I rather not comment" Misty focused her eyes on her book.

A few customers were looking at them again because of the ringing which made Dawn feel a bit embarrassed again "You could at least put it on silent" she whispered.

Instead without looking away from her book Misty pressed a button on her phone shutting the device off "There peace, calm and quiet"

The younger girl leered at her "What is it this time?"

"Nothing that should be spoken off" Misty retorted.

"You could at least answer the phone"

"There is nothing more that should be said"

"Are you sure?"

Misty slammed closed her book "I'm sure"

Dawn kept her unconvinced gaze "Well from our earlier talk I can presume it's not that major since you're still dating"

"It's Ash, he said something stupid and I'm mad" Misty groaned and then finished her entire cup of coffee in one go.

And right on cue Dawn's own phone started playing _Drive_ by Carly Rae Jepsen.

Misty glared "Don't you . . ."

"Hey Ash! . . . Yeah, I'm with her right now . . . in Sunnyshore . . . she seems really pissed at me right now for answering your call . . . okay, I'll try but no promises . . . 'kay bye"

Crossing her arms "So what did he say?"

"He's com . . . I mean, wanna look at the lighthouse?" Dawn smiled weakly.

At that moment Misty felt like pulling her hair but she kept her hands still.

* * *

As if dealing with crazy Pokémon organizations who try to terminate humans in order to liberate Pokémon wasn't already exhausting enough, in the middle of his flight a couple of Pokémon Pinchers try to high-jack the plane and once again Ash had to make sure to not only save the passengers but ensure the plane doesn't crash into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and to top it all off there was that whole debacle he had to deal with in immigration because apparently, the one thing he lost in the fight against terrorists was his visa.

So by the time Ash had exited Jubilife International Airport he was more than willing to collapse on the taxi lane or strangle any shady vendor trying to sell tourists crappy hotel deals. It was around here when Dawn called.

"Please tell me you're already in the country" the pleading tone of his former travel companion was enough to say things are not going well for her too.

Cradling a sleeping Pikachu and trying to hold his bags "Yeah, gonna try to take the train. I'll probably be there in an hour or so."

Dawn let out a sigh "Don't you know how embarrassing it was to ask Volkner to help me tour guide Misty throughout the city!? It was a good thing Flint was there and he was more than willing to showcase every solar panel and rock in this place and somehow make it interesting!"

"Wait . . . VOLKNER AND FLINT TOURED YOU GUYS AROUND?!" Ash yelling woke up Pikachu making the electric rat shock his trainer a bit, it was a good thing that one: Ash was kinda used to the electric treatment and two: his phone was built shock proof among other things.

"Calm down Ash" Dawn rolled her eyes "They seemed to know each other and none of them made a pass on Misty"

Ash faked a smile at a glaring grandmother who was behind him in the taxi line "Umm . . . cool"

"Also Flint says you owe him a battle" Dawn continued "He wants the same line-up you used at the Master's Tournament last August"

"I'm gonna rain check on that one" a cab finally appeared and immediately Ash went in not wanting to stare at that scary looking elderly woman.

"Oh and one last thing, Misty . . . did something weird to her hotel room"

His nostrils flared "Did she barricade her window?"

"How did you know?!"

"Instinct"

* * *

"Ash"

"Yes?"

"You didn't take your ADHD pills again did you?"

"What gave that out?"

Misty hummed, she was currently dressed in a bathrobe with her hair down "Well I don't know maybe that fact that you . . . BROKE THE WINDOWS OF MY HOTEL ROOM BY MAKING SNORLAX USE GIGA IMPACT!" she pointed at the large Pokémon who was currently asleep in the middle of the hotel room surrounded by shattered glass.

Ash himself had a cut on the right side of his arm yet remained aloof regarding the whole situation "Well, if you just let me in this wouldn't have happened. Also, less damage if you didn't put all the furniture against the windows"

"ASH YOU LITERALLY BROKE PRIVATE PROPERTY!"

He waved his hand dismissively "Like I don't do that already on a daily basis"

Misty's jaw dropped "You could get arrested, you fucking idiot!"

"Don't worry" Ash raised his hands "I already informed the hotel"

The redhead raised her hands as though she were preparing to attack him "How much are you paying?"

"Details darling" he gave her a cheeky wink "Nothing to worry about"

Misty pulled his shirt collar "ANYTHING THAT INVOLVES YOU IS SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT!"

Rubbing his chin "So even my pooping is considered a national crisis?" he asked innocently.

"Mighty Arceus give me the strength to not murder this boy right now" Misty closed her eyes as she chanted.

He raked his fingers through his hair "Look, I just had a ten-hour flight and took a two-hour train just to see you" he lowered his head "I'm pretty exhausted right now"

Misty's mouth twisted "You could have saved a lot of money and trouble if you just got a room of your own"

"But that defeats the entire purpose!" the raven head waved his hands "I didn't endure an air attack and severe questioning from immigration to just sleep in another room!"

Air attacks she suspected it to happen but . . . "What happened to you in immigration?" she asked her grip on his collar beginning to loosen.

He pulled away from her "Again details! Nothing big okay!" he grabbed her shoulders "I just want one thing and that is sleep!"

The redhead sneered "Well how is either of us gonna get any sleep when you practically wrecked the entire room"

Ash inspected the damage several pieces of furniture were turned over, glass was scattered on the floor and Snorlax and Pikachu were passed out not minding the damage they had done. "Again, I question why you put furniture against the window"

"Cause I knew you'd pull off a ridiculously stupid stunt like this!" the girl tried to take in deep breaths to calm herself down "This was why I knew us dating was a terrible idea".

Pulling out one chair that wasn't damaged or toppled over he sat down "Then why did you agree on going out with me in the first place?" he looked over at her.

She crossed her arms and refused to look at him in the eye "Why did you ask me out?"

"Hey no fair Mist" he raised a finger, "I asked first"

"Ladies privilege" she brought her tongue.

"Here I am trying to have the mature conversation you always wanted yet you're doing that" he raised his arms in the air "Yep, we're definitely going somewhere," he said sarcastically.

"This isn't what I . . ." she faced him "I was already mad at you and here you are making everything worse than what happened when we last met"

Groaning "And as usual none of us remembered what we were fighting about"

"I know what we were fighting about but because you didn't take your pills you just got from one tangent to another!" Misty then went over to Ash and pulled his hand "Up"

"Why?"

"You're bleeding dammit" she pulled him up and tried to drag him to the bathroom "Seriously; I wonder how you're still alive"

He shrugged "Steel will"

She rolled her eyes "Steel will my . . ." she was cut off when all of sudden Ash spun her around and pinned her against the wall "Ash you better not . . ." her lower lip trembled when she saw how he looked at her.

His cheery look from earlier was replaced with a dark stare "Better not what?" he gave her a devilish smirk that for some reason always made her legs go weak.

She tried her best to not be flustered but apparently trying not to do one thing made you more likely to do it anyway "You're . . . arm . . ." she said dumbly, yes Misty you totally got the situation handled.

"Save it for later" he then shut her mouth up with his.

It was really unfair, Misty thought. Why is it that the guy who seemed to have zero idea on girls, a terrible cook and literally no romantic bone in him manages to turn her into a screaming school girl the moment they lock lips.

Misty tried to push him away, but her hands instead of pushing his chest ended up wrapping around his neck, why was her brain not coordinating with her arms. Before she knew it he could feel his hand under her robe rubbing her thigh, her robe was basically falling off her, the more skin she showed the more she felt his hands touching.

"You . . ." she gasped between kisses "Fucking . . . ah" she moaned "Idiot"

As a reply, he went for her neck and starting nibbling the skin there.

Logic was slowly leaving Misty, instead of thinking she was just feeling, and she wanted to feel good. She bit her lip trying to hold her moans but a certain something had been prodding her lower regions, and judging by how stiff it was it was only in due time before she'll completely start losing it.

"Misty, are you . . . OH MY GHAD!" a petrified Dawn's screaming got the two trainers frozen.

"Umm, this is . . ." Volkner's face went red.

"Woooahhh wild party happened here?" Flint was more amazed at the damage at the hotel room than anything else.

Immediately Misty's senses came back and the first thing instinct made her do was try to cover what was left of her dignity, too bad her robe choose to fall at that moment.

Ash tried his best to cover his girlfriend while addressing the unexpected visitors "Uhmm . . . did you guys knock?"

Volkner was looking away but pointing at Dawn "She called us about a crash in Misty's bedroom, we thought Team Rocket came or something"

"I was worried okay!" Dawn stomped her foot but was also equally blushing "It's not liking someone breaking the windows of hotel rooms was a normal thing!"

Covering her chest Misty muttered "I told you it was a stupid thing"

Flint apparently did not have a filter on as he suddenly went over to Ash and patted him on the shoulder "Man I heard about messing up a hotel room but you guys put into another level!"

"Thanks? . . ." Ash replied meekly "I guess?"

Volkner did not want to be involved in any more of what was going on and decided to leave "I'll . . . just let you guys be"

Dawn was going to follow him out before giving her friends a shameful glare "This is definitely not Netflix"

Flint just gave them a thumbs up before he left.

That left the two young adults alone again. Misty was covering her face in embarrassment while Ash was rubbing the back of his head.

"What the fuck just happened?!"

* * *

 **It probably wouldn't be proper to not have the band I based on this series title of to not make an appearance. This was originally supposed to be posted on my birthday but procrastination happened. I don't know if Ash has ADHD but he probably is a likely candidate in my opinion.**

 **Thanks to Master-Juan-X for adding this story to (insert preferred pronoun) favorites :3**

 **cake0108: This chapter probably won't be exactly as cute as before XD.**


	17. Qef

Word: Q.E.F.

Meaning: quod erat faciendum or "that which was to be done"

Song: Fire Meet Gasoline

Artist: Sia

Album: 1000 Forms of Fear (2014)

 **The much awaited sequel to Effort**

* * *

"So you're here again" Misty opened the door to see that it was her ever so present neighbor.

The goofball with the charming chocolate brown eyes smiled "Well since you don't have a properly functional kitchen" he held out what seemed to be food containers" I thought we'd have dinner together"

She sighed "We already have lunch and breakfast together . . ." despite her exasperation, she let him enter, despite her grumpy exterior she was relieved somewhat that he brought her food.

It had been a month since Misty became formally acquainted with the guy from across the street. The first time he introduced himself while trying to get a Wurmple out of her leg she kicked him right in the balls. Normally people would start hissing and calling her a bitch before leaving her alone. He on the other hand just laughed (weakly) and called her 'a fighter'; she didn't know what he meant even now she didn't know what he meant.

Apparently, his name was Ash, which she thought was a stupid name.

"You know there are lots of cheap beds," he said as he placed the salsa chicken and mushroom risotto in a couple of bowls (which he bought) and some plates and utensils (again he also bought) "You should consider buying one"

Misty was lying on the floor staring at the ceiling "And having another bug family infest them? Forget it"

"Maybe cleaning your place would stop wild Pokémon from trying to invade your apartment" he put the bowls and plates on the floor right next to her.

Sitting up "This isn't my apartment"

"You live here" he put food into her plate.

"That doesn't mean the place is mine" she stared at the food and her stomach started to grumble which made her grumble and Ash laugh.

Giving her a fork and spoon "Don't be shy, I've got tons"

"You don't have to do this you know," Misty said before taking a chicken into her mouth and trying her best to hide her pleasure from eating such good food, it's unfair he was a better cook than he even when she was slightly sane.

He gave her a coy look "I could say the same for you"

She stopped in mid-chew "Wawahdamean?"

For some reason, he understood her "I mean, this apartment isn't yours, you're not from here yet you're still here" he put some mushroom into his mouth "What's pulling you back"

"You're getting into dangerous territory boy" Misty glared. "Just because you feed me doesn't mean you need to know my life story"

Swallowing his food "I think I know enough"

She rolled her eyes "Yeah right"

"You're the youngest of the Sensational Sisters and at one point the gym leader of the Cerulean Gym. Your parents were also well-known Pokémon trainers themselves with your mom being a former Elite Four member. And because of your skills, people expected you to take up Lorelei's place if she ever retires from her position"

Misty crossed her arms "So you have access to my records big deal"

Ash smiled and continued "You had a fear for Gyrados but due to your gym responsibilities you managed to overcome and it eventually becomes your strongest Pokémon next to your Psyduck, who despite its power is very unpredictable so he's a gamble. You don't get along with your sisters because they're more focused on becoming celebrities than Pokémon training. When you were younger and you had a fight with one of them you would run away with your bike and stop by a nearby lake near Pallet town"

She dropped her spoon.

"But as you grew up you got to endure your sisters and decided to be the responsible one. Out of nowhere though you fell in love with an up an coming coordinator from the Hoenn region and you thought he was the one. So you decide to drop everything to be with him because even you have dreams of settling down with a family, and maybe you could have an excuse to explore a new region while travelling around for contests"

Misty started to shake.

He put down the bowl "Eventually we both know what happened after that"

The redhead fisted her hands "How . . . how . . . how do you know all that?"

Shrugging "I have my . . ." he was cut off when she suddenly tackled him and pulled him by the collar.

"Listen here" Misty tightened her tiny pale knuckles and growled "Just because you do the same little 'Mr. Charity Act' to everyone else doesn't mean it would work on me"

He drew nearer to her "You're tough act won't work on me either" he gave a smile "And you're right this isn't the first time I did this, but you're not my toughest case"

Immediately she pushed him to the floor "IS THAT WHAT I AM A PET PROJECT!?"

His eyebrows rose "You consider yourself a pet?"

She frowned "Get out, now"

"Okay I'm sorry about that" he bit his lip.

"I SAID GET OUT!" she grabbed a plate and threw it to the wall a loud smack was heard and several pieces of blue glass fell on the floor.

There was a moment of silence.

Misty was panting after overexerting herself.

Eventually, Ash rose up and sighed dusting his pants and giving her what seemed like a disappointed look "If that's what you want then fine" and with that, he left.

That left Misty alone. There was still some food left, Ash's plate was half done and there was another container at the kitchen counter that looked like a cake. After what seemed like forever the girl dropped on the floor hands shaking as she covered her face.

"What have I done?"

* * *

It had been a month since Misty threw that plate. After that the redhead decided to grab some liquor from the nearby homeless men and start and drinking binge. She woke up two days later at Route 116 being poked by some nosy schoolgirl who she scared by gurgling and pretending to be a wild Poochyena.

When she came back to the apartment with a massive headache she realized that there were now red curtains on Ash's apartment, she could no longer watch him.

She tried to live her life but then she wondered how exactly she had been doing that. It was only here she realized how bad tasting Pokémon Puffins were. As she walked around the city in the middle of spring despite how warm it was she still wore a large woolly sweater.

Her mother really loved the spring; she loved to see the flowers blooming and watch nature come back to life. This was why she named all her daughters by flowers, well except her that is. She wondered why this was so, why didn't they just name her Rose? Or Camelia or Blossom or something? Heck, she'd even be fine with a name like Bluebell.

Yet she was named Misty.

As she grew up she finally knew why she was different. She wasn't as tall as her sisters. She wasn't as pretty as her sisters. She never really looked like a girl. No one wanted to play with her because she was too rough. She wasn't good at dancing and she rather battles than put on makeup.

It didn't help that her parents wanted a boy.

She remembered when she was around eight, she had come home from school early and she overheard her parents. Her mom was worried that their youngest was acting like a tomboy. Her dad was fine saying he didn't want another girl anyway.

Tears streamed down her face. Why was she thinking of things like that now? That was almost ten years ago she's over that. Her parents were long dead and her sisters were now tolerable. She was an adult now.

"Hey lady, are you okay?"

Misty realized that she had somehow ended up at the Trainer's School and there was some kid with long brown hair tied in a high-ponytail wearing a light green tank top, brown skirt, high socks, and pink shoes while carrying a pink schoolbag with the League logo on it.

It was the schoolgirl from yesterday.

At first, Misty didn't want to bother with the little girl and decided to pass by her, hoping she wouldn't recognize her.

"Aren't you the weird crazy hobo girl who tried to be a Poochyena?"

Things couldn't be any worse than this.

"Rose! Don't yell at strangers" called out what seems to be the teacher.

And of course, her name had to be Rose, the utter irony.

"Miss Roxanne!" Rose pointed at Misty "That's the strange woman who was sleeping on the bushes near Rusturf Tunnel!"

Misty better get out of here, she knew she'd probably get food in prison but she doesn't want to deal with a lecture from Officer Jenny right now.

"Is that so?" immediately Misty could hear the sounds of boots clicking heading towards her and before she knew it a hand was on her shoulder "I think I have somethings I want to say to you"

* * *

"Soooo, you're not going out with Roxanne?" Brock asked Ash by the drinking fountain.

Not looking up from the file he was holding "Well not at the present time"

This made the guy cower "So you're planning to go out with her?"

"I'm not" Ash jerked his head in the direction of a white-haired guy at the other side of the room "I heard Brendan is though"

Immediately Brock went called over to said person "HEY BRENDAN YOU GOING OUT WITH ROXANNE?"

This made Brendan stop whatever he was doing and blush "WHAT!? WHO TOLD YOU THAT?"

"ASH!" Brock yelled back.

Closing his file and heading for his desk "Don't drag me into this" Ash said in a deadpan manner.

Brendan then went over to Brock and pointed at Ash's desk "I am not going to talk about her ex!"

This made Brock's jaw drop "You dated her?"

"We never dated!" Ash finally faced them "I was just her date uhh . . . I mean plus one at her brother's wedding!"

Brendan crossed his hands "You basically went to a family event, how did she introduce you as?"

"The soufflé" Ash grit his teeth.

Brock and Brendan looked at each other before looking at Ash again "The what?"

"The soufflé" Ash stated again "You know the guy who just there because he has a car"

There was a pause before Brock said: "You mean the chauffeur?"

The raven head paused before turning back to his desk "Guys I have a report to finish so go squabble about Roxy somewhere else please"

"You call her Roxy!?" Brock pointed.

"It's not that I like him calling me that" all three men turned to see the said woman walk-into the precinct.

Brock gave the civilian a smile "Well greetings and salutations my beloved mistress of the south"

Ignoring Brock's greeting "I saw the famous Weird Hobo Chick that Lives in Room #6 around my campus this morning" Roxanne placed her hands in front of her.

Brendan cringed "Oh, what did she do this time? Last time I tried to arrest her for drunk driving she used my taser against me"

Roxanne looked at her confusingly "She doesn't have a car"

"… She also used the car against me" Brendan then turned around and left the conversation.

Brock rubbed his chin "Hmm, I don't think I ever encountered her yet. Then again . . ." he raised his brows at the teacher "I usually do stakeouts for Russian Mafias"

Ash faced his desk again "Particularly their grandmothers"

"Hey! Even the toughest men become weak when their grandma's involved!" Brock defended himself.

Roxanne cocked her head "So, aren't you gonna listen to my report?"

"I'll let Brock handle her" Ash raised his hands up "As you can see I'm knee deep on filing reports and the chief is now at my throat"

Brock looked over at the files on Ash's desk "The lottery scammer? Ash that case was 6 months ago how much paperwork did you not do?"

Standing up and doing a heroic stance "I was keeping the public safe"

"Uhuh" Roxanne smirked "Or you were busy keeping an eye on your friendly neighbour"

Sighing the raven head crossed his arms "Ok you're obviously not reporting something, what is it then?"

"Apparently she wants to talk to you" Roxanne winked.

"Okay" Brock quickly asked, "This may sound random but did you go out with Ash before?"

The girl raised a brow "Umm we went out of two dates?"

"Two?!" Ash looked confusingly "When?"

Rolling her eyes "My brother's wedding and that time we went to watch Pokémon Love"

Ash gaped "Those were dates?"

Roxanne sighed "Now you can see why there wasn't a third"

* * *

Misty knew very well she was always out of place. Yet as she waited outside the Rustboro Police Station she couldn't help but feel a lot of wrong. She didn't look like a civilian she looked like those drug dealers and crooks the officers were bringing in.

"Why did I agree to this" Misty grumbled before staring at the sign "And how did I not know he was a cop?"

"Pikapi!"

At once the girl jumped only to realize it was Pikachu who, of course, was wearing a tiny police vest.

"Damn it" Misty glared at the electric rat "You look adorable"

"Pika-chu"

"So you finally resurfaced" a familiar voice spoke behind her and she couldn't help but feel self-conscious.

Her hair looked like a Piegeot nest, she hadn't showered, and she wore neon green bellbottom pants, an itchy purple sweater and a ridiculous oversized black and white faux fur coat.

She bit her lip as she slowly turned around to face him "I . . . uh . . ."

Out of nowhere, he started laughing "Oh man, you look like some pimp"

This made her blush "It was cold outside okay!"

"Man, did people mistake you for a Zigzagoon?" Ash then started laughing again.

This made Misty growl "No they thought I was a dog!"

"That's even worse!" Ash laughed and clapped.

Misty crossed her arms "I knew this was a bad idea"

"You know" he wiped his tears "If you wanted to talk to me you could have just knocked on my door, I mean you know where I live"

She rolled her eyes "I didn't want to talk to you" she kicked an invisible pebble on the ground "Your damn girlfriend asked me to"

Ash blinked "Why does everyone think I'm with Roxanne?"

"I dunno" Misty waved her hand dismissively "It's not like I know about your life, despite the fact you know a lot about mine"

He sighed and crossed his arms "Okay since you're here I guess I should apologize, I did cross the line last time and I'm sorry"

"Wow, you're actually being mature" Misty cocked her head "But yeah you were an asshole last time"

"You're lucky I didn't handcuff you and made you sleep in the cell" Ash pointed at the precinct with his thumb "But then you were sleeping soundly on the bushes so I thought you were a Zigzagoon"

"STOP IT WITH THE ZIGZAGOON JOKES!" Misty fisted her hands "Or I'm gonna beat you up!"

"In here? While I'm on duty?" Ash pointed at himself "I don't think so"

Misty bit her lip "Look the only reason why I dragged my sorry ass in here is that I wanted to ask you one thing!"

"And that is?"

Pointing a wavy finger at him "Why . . . did you . . . give up?"

* * *

 **To Be Continued**

 **cake0108: Hopefully this was cute for you**

 **Master-Juan-X: Muchas gracias (I can't speak Spanish sorry)**

 **PokeshipHeart: Thanks**


	18. Rascal

Word: Rascal

Definition: a person who behaves badly or dishonestly but who is usually likable

Song: Secret

Artist: Maroon 5

Album: Songs About Jane (2002)

* * *

When one decides to spend the night with a stranger it's usually because one of them or both of them is lonely. There's a certain cycle about it: get high on the excitement of something new, do something really wild and dirty while not exactly remembering the details of the act then wake-up the next morning feeling really embarrassed and walking back to your house in shame.

One night stands were something Misty tried not to partake in too much. She was a romantic after all. She believed in love at first sight, love poems and finding the right guy. While as she grew she became a little more realistic in her romantic pursuits she usually made sure she was formally dating the guy before getting in bed with them. And in her twenty-seven years of existence she can proudly say she had only two one night stands, while personally she still thinks the number makes her feel a bit 'slutty' it's still a conservative figure compared to her sisters.

And lately Misty seems to have rotten luck in the love department. Due to her goal of becoming a 'Water Pokémon Master' which basically equated to having: the best water-gym in the Indigo Region, be the best water trainer in the ranking tournaments and basically being unbeatable in general. This drive to be the best made her spend most of her time training and doing paperwork that the main reason her former boyfriends left her was that they "were pushed aside" or "not the top priority". The latter being a ridiculous reason Misty thought as she knew very well there were other top trainers male or female who choose battling over personal relationships. Then again, there was a great increase in the number of single parents and some studies actually blamed Pokémon training as one of the top five reasons.

But that doesn't mean one cannot pursuit sexually exploits casually with strangers from time to time. Misty was still human and humans much like Pokémon crave sex as a means of survival. Whether it be from pleasure or a way to continue the human race; it's basically an act people eventually do.

May it be with a random stranger or . . . a close friend.

"It happened again" Misty whispered as she stared into the ceiling covered in her own sweat and afterglow. She then turns to face the sleeping figure beside her.

As per usual he was already asleep, in fact, he was in such a deep sleep drool was coming of his mouth. She could say it was gross but then again she still chooses to kiss that mouth in several occasions and have it go to places she rather not say.

Sometimes she couldn't believe he was an adult, one moment he's perplexed by the word 'conspicuous' the next minute he's planning a very detailed and full proof assault plan on a crime organization.

He was sleeping soundly with his chest slowly going up and down, his black raven hair messed up even more than usual and basically not having a care in the world at the complexities of his current relationship with the woman sleeping right next to him.

It's not fair, Misty thought as she looked at his sleeping face. She was the one who said that they keep their . . . 'thing' mainly physical and nothing more. She knew nothing would come out of a relationship with a busy-body gym leader and a trainer who literally is in a new region every eight months.

Yet why does she feel like she wants more?

"I hate you Ketchum" she muttered one last time before turning her back on him and trying to get some sleep.

* * *

It all started at Gary Oak's twentieth birthday. Surprisingly despite his family being quite prominent there wasn't that grand of a celebration. It only involved a small dinner with family and close friends at a well to do restaurant before the rest of the youngsters went out clubbing.

Misty was sort of against the whole idea of having shots at some dance club in Viridian, especially since one of her friends had a terrible alcohol tolerance and the other was technically still underage.

"Mist, I'll be legal in three months," said Ash after she stated her concerns "And you know people really don't take those laws seriously"

The girl had her arms crossed "That's the problem, we wouldn't be having this much juvenile crime and teenage pregnancies if we followed one simple law" she sighed "Like what's the point of making it a law if people don't follow it anyway"

"Then that just says how stupid the law is" the trainer snorted.

Rolling her eyes "Of course, I expected that kind of reply from you"

"Come on Mist" before Ash could say anything else they were interrupted by the sound of what could be best described as a human interpretation of a Moltres crow mixed with the gurgling sounds of a Zubat and the high pitch of a squeaking microphone.

Tracy had run over to their booth with a scared look on his face "Guys, I think Brock is gonna start doing his . . . concert special"

Misty had an 'I-told-you-so' look on her face while Ash did a shaky laugh and tried to be positive.

"Umm well . . . what's the set-list tonight?"

And it was here when the first notes of Venus were heard.

Tracy gave a weak reply "British 80's Girl Group Hour?"

There was an awkward silence before Ash waved his hands to signal the waiter "Hey can I have a bottle of Balkan please!"

Around two bottles of vodka later and three songs later . . .

"I heard ruuuuuumoooooor! Oh oooh ooooh, I heard a ruuuuumoor!" Misty sang as she tried to balance herself on a table and cling onto the mike wire for dear life "They say you got a broken heaaartttt!"

Gary looked at the awkwardly choreographed production of Misty pointing at random people at the bar, Brock giving his all being a backup singer and dancer and Tracey dancing completely out of tune but still have a wide smile on his face. "Okay I'm pretty sure none of us was born when Bananarama was still a thing"

Ash gave him a dumb look "Banana Bonanza?"

"You know what forget it" Gary pushed away from the bar "I was planning on trying to get it on with Red over there but she seems to have an encore performance and she'd probably pass out before I do anything with her"

The raven head gave Gary a look and raised his finger "Wait a second . . . did you say you were getting red bull?"

Gary groaned "WHY ARE YOU ALL WASTED BEFORE ME!?" he spread his hands and looked to the heavens "It's my birthday I'm supposed to be doing the crazy stupid shit and get away with it"

"Bar keeeeeppppp!" Misty had stumbled into the bar and almost fell right into it "HELLLOOO" she snapped her fingers and waved her hands like a crazy woman "I want another shot of Aperzooollll Spiittttzzzz" she said practically spitting at the 'Spit' part.

Ash couldn't help but chuckle at her "What happened to juvenile crimes and pregnancies?"

As a reply the redhead burst into a mixture of a guffaw and a giggle "Oh please" she pointed at herself with her palms "I'm a leeeggall responsible wohmahn" she then fist bumped her chest.

Ash then turned to Gary "Still wanna tap that?" he pointed at her with his thumb.

"As much as I find her amusing right now . . ." Gary then cringed when Misty pretty much forgot how to drink from a glass properly and was now covered in Prosecco and soda "I'll pass"

"Too bad" Ash raised his own drink "I'd be a pretty funny story to tease her with"

This piqued Gary's curiosity "So . . . you're not gonna stop me if I do?" he leaned against the bar.

"Well . . . sure" Ash paused "Now that I think about it having my oldest rival and my oldest best friend do the deed feels like . . . having Professor Oak bang my mom behind my back"

If Gary had a drink he would have spat it by now but luckily he didn't "Moltres! Ash . . . Oh, Arceus! You had to put that in my head!"

Shaking his head "Yeah, it's torturing my mind too" Ash downed his gin. "Yep still in my head"

"I need a drink" Gary went over to the bartender.

With Gary gone Misty out of nowhere started poking Ash "Youu knooow" she drawled "I always thought what those marks in your cheeks weeeeerrrr"

Ash blinked "Mist . . . how much did you drink?"

"How daaarrreeee you!" she poked him again "Questioon my authority as the laaadddyyy of the noorrrth in this assembly"

"You are completely wasted" as much as Ash found it amusing and quite adorable to see intoxicated Misty he also knew that it would be double the pain to take care of her in the morning "You know what, I think you need to come . . ."

"No No!" she waved her finger at his face "The night . . . is still along the road" she started doing Broadway hand gestures "I have yet to exhilarate intooo spppaaaaccceee"

"That's it I'm getting you out of here" he then grabbed Misty by the hand and proceeded to drag her out of the club.

"Ohhhh . . . are you taking me to the stage?" Misty tumbled as she followed Ash out.

Keeping a smile and playing along "Yep, the show's gonna start and we need you to get ready for the nude scene!"

"Wait!" Misty wailed "I haven't suntaaanneed yeettt!"

Ash was starting to wonder if the Sensational Sisters were proficient gym leaders when they were drunk. They were already outside and there seemed to be more people wanting to get in than get out. "Alright, I want you to stay put," he told Misty before he came to some realization "You know it's kinda weird that I'm . . ."

"It's sosoooo cooooolllld" Misty wailed and she covered herself, she was wearing a white tweed strapless dress which left her shoulders and legs very much exposed.

Rolling his eyes Ash took off his parka jacket and put it on her "Now be a good girl and stay put"

Giving him a goofy smile "Yes daddy!"

He blinked rapidly "That . . . is giving me mixed feelings" he then turned around to hail a cab, by the time he got one Misty was sitting on the side of the road snuggled up with his warm parka and probably asleep. This left him no choice but to carry her to the cab and ask the driver to go to the nearest economically friendly hotel (he had almost used up half his month's earnings on Pokémon food and a ticket to Kanto).

While on the way Misty had suddenly woken up "Where am I?"

Facing her "We're on a spaceship taking us to Neptune"

"Neptune is just a giant fart gas planet" Misty grumbled and Ash couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous she looked in his jacket seeing as how oversized on her it looked. She then suddenly crawled towards him "Heeeeyyy Aaasssshhhhhyyyyyy"

Trying the jerk away from her "Your breath stinks right now"

"Sooo does youurrs" she pressed her hand on his chest "Whhyy aren't you drunk? You got vodka and stuuffff"

"I ate more" Ash was trying to avert his eyes to the cab window that to the girl who was currently invading his personal space and was practically on top of him now.

The redhead pouted which looked really cute if you added that her face was flushed and the fact that she actually looked hot in that dress "No faaaiirrr" she banged on his chest.

"Hey! No hitting!" Ash tried to push her off but her legs were now awkwardly wrapped around him. "Would you at least behave!"

"Ooooohhh some one's beiiinggg a stiiiiiccccckkkk!" Misty pulled his shoulders back and forth.

"That" shake "Makes" shake "No sense"

All of a sudden she stopped shaking him.

Ash felt a blush on his cheeks as Misty just stared at him very closely and it was in here he realized how close their faces were. "Umm Misty . . ."

And that was when he felt her lips on his.

* * *

It had been a few months since the party and it was now time for the Indigo Conference. An event that takes place every two years wherein all officials from all regions were to attend to discuss various things regarding the League. It was usually here were policies and other important matters were discussed about the League.

Ash, on the other hand, calls it the Snorlax Marathon, he only attended it once but he knew it was an event he rather not attends.

Too bad he was champion now.

"Ash . . . good to see you" the raven head turned around to see a very sober and awkward Misty who was waving at him. It had been a few months since Gary's birthday party and while the morning after had been the most awkward and terrifying experience he had for the sake of their friendship he decided to let the incident slide.

Even though there are times wherein it pops up into his mind like now.

Putting on his usual goofy smile "Hey Mist! Why wouldn't I participate in such a bo... .great . . . event . . . occurrence . . . meetings"

Crossing her arms and tapping her foot " Mr Goodshow forced you to attend huh"

Ash groaned "Like come on Mist, I understand that these things are important it keeps the peace and order but . . . we don't really have to revisit and re-edit the policy EVERY TIME"

Rolling her eyes "Ash, you of all people should know why we do this. Pokémon Battling is not just a sport it's basically what drives the economy and it comes with its own politics. And since trainers are not politicians and vice versa things get messy and we need to keep the peace. It's people like Team Rocket and Team Plasma that make us have to do things like these"

"I know I know" Ash took a sip from his canteen "But seriously Mist, I already see the paperwork and endured actually attending Diet meetings. I don't wanna sit all day and listen to boring shit I already know"

"You literally threatened the Prime Minister last week" the redhead pointed and glared at him.

"He was being an ass!" Ash raised his arms "He wanted to change the Trainer Law and make sure all regions comply to the same age!"

"You know I do see his point" Misty rubbed her chin "I mean, are you really sure ten is a good age to start? I mean Kalos starts at 16"

"I get that sentiment" Ash slouched "But the fact that he had to ban kids from having direct contact with Pokémon even if it's just an Oddish is utter bull"

Shaking her head "Just don't do anything stupid Ash, you may be a strong trainer but those pencil pushers will eat you alive if you do the wrong thing"

Cocking his head "Why would I worry about pencils? Aren't we talking about the Diet?"

"Never . . ." Misty took a whiff of something "I smell some. . ."

Before she could finish her statement Ash suddenly waved at the first person he could see "OH HEEEYYYY Elesa! How are you looking so beautiful! I'm furious!" he went over to the model.

This made Misty raise a brow "Since when did . . ." she watched as Ash went chummy chummy with the electric type gym leader ". . . Those two get close?"

Later in the afternoon after around three meetings Misty found herself in some conversation with Korrina about training styles.

"So . . . you could really break rocks?" Misty blinked "With you axel kicks?"

The blonde laughed "Yep, though it takes a lot of practice though" she rubbed the back of her head "The first time I did it I almost broke my back cause my landing was off"

"HEY GUYSSS!" out of nowhere someone had slipped their hand on Misty's shoulder which shocked the water trainer "What you are guys talking about?"

Korrina beamed "Oh hey Ash! Nice seeing you"

Misty rolled her eyes "Seriously, did you have to pop out of nowhere"

"Come on, live a little will ya" he raised his canteen and faced Korrina "So how you been? How's your Lucario?"

Korrina lifted her chin "Getting stronger every day, how about it Ketchum one-on-one" there was a glint in her eye "Ever since I saw you annihilate Bruno in your Champion Challenger I wanted to spar with you, especially with the Snorlax of yours"

Misty again smelled something "Ash . . ." she gave him a look "What is that . . ."

"Maybe some other time" Ash pretended to not hear Misty's query "I mean Mega Evolution or not Snorlax is quite something, he might be too much"

Korina got more interested "Bring it on Ash" she pointed at him "I'll be waiting" before she left she waved goodbye to Misty "I'll teach you my axel kicks sometime!" she yelled as she left.

When she was gone Ash faced his friend "So axel kicks huh"

Immediately Misty grabbed the canteen that was in his hand, opened the lid and sniffed it "ASH KETCHUM!" she yelled, "THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT WATER!"

As a response, Ash covered the girl's mouth and dragged her to the nearest corner where no one could see them. He then removed his hands "Look, I can explain" he received a death glare "That was . . . gin"

"I SWEAR IF I HAD MY MALLET RIGHT . . ." she then realized she could just hit him with the water bottle and did just that "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING DAY DRINKING AT AN EVENT LIKE THIS?! FOR SHAME KETCHUM!"

"Stop yelling!" he was sat on the floor covering his head with his hands "It's not like it was my idea"

She paused in mid-hit "Yeah you're stupid but not stupid enough to think of something like this" she stomped her foot "WHO GAVE YOU THE IDEA!?"

He squinted "Adler?"

She gave him a look before turning around.

"MISTY STOP!" he stood up and immediately grabbed her "He's more wasted than I am!"

She sniffed him "You reek of booze, how did the other champions not notice? Was Adler covered with smoke too?!"

Ash noticed that a couple of people again were looking at them and he again dragged the woman to another hiding spot, this time a nearby supply closet. "You really need to stop yelling"

Threatening him with the canteen "And you need to stop drinking!" she sighed "Seriously Ash, you're the Champion with the kid-friendly image. What would trainers who look up to you do if they found out you have a drinking problem?"

"I don't have a drinking problem" he muttered under his breath "It's you"

Misty's face blushed "Excuse me?! Did you say something?"

He gave a half shrug "Come on, if there's someone who has issues with alcohol it's you"

"That's . . . That's different!" she turned away "There's a difference between alcohol tolerance and alcohol abuse" she nibbled her lip "Also we're not supposed to talk about that"

He smirked "I wasn't even talking about...that"

She turned around to face him "You're changing the topic!"

Going closer to her "I dunno Mist, maybe we should talk about it"

"Don't you dare come any closer Ketchum" Misty stepped back only to almost trip on something and hold onto a nearby shelf to stop herself from falling "And your breath smells!"

"You know so did yours during that time . . ." he countered back.

Misty closed her eyes and looked up "Why do you even bring it up now? It's been months and not once did you bring it up"

His eyes softened "Cause I didn't want to make things any more awkward between us, you kinda . . . had a strange reaction the following morning"

The redhead cringed "Yeah maybe I should apologize for throwing my shoe at you"

"Thank Arceus they're still intact"

She finally looked at him in the eye "I'm sorry" she frowned "How are you not tumbling down the hallways when you've been drinking since 9?"

"Seven actually" he corrected her as he went closer to her "Also they do have an effect"

It was in here Misty realized she was trapped between a wall and the large body of her best friend and there was something poking her, and she was sure it wasn't some random broom.

Her face went into a deep red "You . . . are . . . a bastard" she shook her head "You know if you just wanted to satisfy your little friend over there you could have gone with any other female gym leader"

Ash raised a brow "Huh?"

"Oh come on you know" she tried to put on an annoyed look but it wasn't that effective and hopefully the poor lighting and alcohol in his system wouldn't make it obvious "I mean you could have had it with Elesa like she's a damn model or if you're into like cute girls there's Korrina . . . who could probably do legs tricks" she paused and said as an afterthought "Maybe I should I ask her if she does"

Ash's chocolate brown eyes lit up "Are you jealous?"

Rubbing her temples "I am not, I just have a real headache because not only is the Kanto Champion drunk in an important conference but he's also horny"

His hands then went to her sides to trap her "The reason why I didn't go for them is . . ." he went over to her ear and whispered in a low voice "Because I want you"

No one had seen them until two hours later, both dishevelled and with very red faces.

* * *

And before they knew it they just kept doing it. Every time one of them was drunk (or both) they would end up shacking up one night and trying to forget about it the next morning. Ash would try to talk to her about it but Misty would always be too embarrassed to do so. Eventually, he stopped, but it was also here when he started leaving her alone in the morning.

It was surprising for her the first time it happened. She would usually feel his arm around her waist, his breathing on her back or maybe her arms around his chest. But now all she had was an empty space in the bed that made her feel kinda . . . empty.

She should be fine with this, she thought. They were both adults. They've had sexual relations before with strangers. This should be normal.

But Ash wasn't a stranger. He was someone she knew (both literally and biblically). They were best friends, and she was aware of the whole 'friends with benefits' kinda situation but . . . it just felt different.

Nobody knew of what was going on between them. It's not like they intentionally wanted to hide their relationship, it was just never mentioned. Misty didn't want to deal with Brock's 'I-told-you-so' remarks and Ash didn't think he can handle her sisters. Which meant every time they did it, it was either at a hotel or at Misty's whenever her sisters were out of Kanto. And there was that one time at a cave in front of a legendary but that's another story.

Now that leads her to now. They were at Jesse's baby shower and James made a total alcohol ban, worried that Jesse would have too much and harm the baby. It was strange really. For years Team Rocket had been travelling to every region trying to capture Ash's Pikachu, and yet here they are now celebrating their new baby, and Ash was the godfather.

The lack of drinking usually meant nothing would happen. Misty did her best job chatting with the other guests and trying to keep Jesse off whatever hidden bottle of chardonnay they had laying around. She didn't really see much of Ash throughout the day and she had presumed he had left early or ate too much at the buffet and was passed out somewhere.

Yet out of nowhere while she was in the bathroom and was washing her hands when he came to use the toilet, not a minute had passed and they found themselves making out and hiding in the shower.

They were sleeping at one of Jesse and James' guestrooms and Misty was sure that by now everyone knew, or at least had some form of suspicion. She had been staring at the honey yellow painted walls for a while now and she knows she isn't getting any sleep tonight. She tossed and turned in the bed trying to find a comfortable sleeping position but only ending up with messing up the sheets.

And waking up her partner "Mist" Ash still had his eyes closed "Would you stop tossing and grabbing the blankets"

For a moment the redhead blushed in embarrassment and decided to just stare at the ceiling "Sorry, I'm a bit . . . uncomfortable"

At this Ash opened his eyes and faced her "You were perfectly fine when we were in Terra Cave and I'm pretty sure James got these sheets from Egypt or something"

"It's not that" Misty patted her hands on the thick quilt "I . . . had some . . . thoughts going around my head"

Ash was silent for a moment before he got up "Maybe I should check on Pikachu, I know it's been years but they might subconsciously try to trap him in a cage or something"

"Are you trying to run away?" Misty faced him as he got out of bed and looked for his clothes.

He paused while putting on his pants "Look, I know this whole situation is awkward so I'm saving you the problem of overthinking it"

She sat up on the bed and covered her chest with the blankets "So you're okay . . . with this . . . I mean . . . it's just that . . . what if they find out"

Without skipping a beat "Then we're done"

For some reason, his blunt reply stung and the only thing she could say with her hazy mental state of mind was "Oh"

"Yeah . . ." putting his shirt on "I mean . . . I don't mean we're like done that we don't see each other I just mean we stop . . ." he pointed at her and himself "Doing this"

Biting her lip "So . . . we're still friends?" she shook her head "It's gonna be a while before we . . . get back to that"

He drew in a long breath "Then what do you want then?" he faced her "We're not friends and we're not lovers. Do want us to be strangers then?"

"I don't know!" she yelled before putting her head on the blankets "I'm sorry . . . I've been too selfish"

Ash went over to the bed and sat down with his back against her "You know" he rubbed his nose "I really value you more than anyone, your my best friend and you know me more than any other person . . . even more than my mom"

She lifted her head and let out a little laugh "Your mom wouldn't be happy about that"

He looked at her over his shoulder "My mom wouldn't be happy about what we're doing"

"Yeah . . . I know" she gripped the sheets "I was just . . . you mean a lot to me too. And I was scared"

He listened.

"I was scared . . . I mean you're a guy who would never stay at one place too long and I'm someone who would like to settle down" she sighed "I just don't wanna seem like I'm holding you back or something. I realized this when we were kids that we both had our separate lives. You could travel with a new girl for every region while I could have dates with any random trainer who asks me out." She continued "I remember there were days where I thought you'd forgotten about me . . ." it was in here were her eyes started to feel watery.

"Misty . . ."

"Its fine" she rubbed her eyes "I know you're not the type of person to do that. I just have to accept these things . . . I'm sorry, I'm not a good friend at . . ." she was stopped in mid-sentence when she felt arms wrapped around her.

There was always this certain feeling from being in the arms of a man. It could feel disgusting. It could feel passionate. But every time Misty found herself in his arms, she knew she was safe.

"Why do you always do this?" she rested her head on his chest and let tears flow down his shirt "You rascal"

* * *

 **I had no idea what I was going for with this one. I was stressed from my thesis and high on coffee that I just wrote all this. I dunno if it even relates to anything at all XD.**

 **Thanks to** **Taiski for adding this story to favorites.**

 **PokeshipHeart: . . .Thanks**

 **cake0108: Hopefully this next one will. It's longer XD.**


	19. Sternum

**Word: Sternum /** **ˈ** **st** **ə** **rn** **ə** **m/ (noun) - the breastbone**

 **Song: How Do You Sleep?**

 **Artist: Jesse McCartney**

 **Album: Departure (2008)**

* * *

Damn.

That was the first thing that came up to Ash's mind as soon as he saw her. Was that really her? When was the last time he saw her? Did she always dress up like that? Why was he feeling uncomfortable at the moment?

"Hey Ash!" out of nowhere Barry tackled the raven head from behind "Nice to see ya pal! So are you registered for the tournament? Of course you are! You're pretty much one of the top contenders for the Master's Series"

Ash rubbed his sore bottom from the fall "So . . . I guess you're in this tournament as well"

The blonde chuckled "Well of course, you're not the only hot-shot trainer to look out for!"

"Well . . ." Ash rubbed the bottom of his cheek "So that thing about you losing at the first round at Lanakila . . ."

Almost immediately Barry covered the other guy's mouth "That was a technical disqualification! The rules in Alola were just so damn weird!"

The raven head just shook his head and turned his head around to see if that hint of red he saw earlier was really her sadly it was no longer there.

Barry noticed his distant stare "Something up?" he then leered "Don't tell me you've got some prophecy given to you last night again or something"

"I . . . don't think so . . ." Ash replied slowly before he shook his head and gave Barry his easy going grin "Sooooo, ready for me to kick your ass?"

* * *

He checked her name on the records to see if she was competing but nothing came up. Well she was a gym leader she probably didn't have enough time to rack up points in tournaments. Didn't gym leaders get an extra bonus or something if that's the case? It was a shame really, despite the fact that she had a lot of skill and loved traveling she ended up bundled in a gym. Not that he was shaming gym leaders or anything but if he knew _her_ he knew she hated staying at one spot for too long.

"Pika pikapi?" Pikachu asked as Ash lay awake the night before his first match staring at the ceiling.

"I can't sleep" he admitted to his friend.

The electric rodent cocked his head and raised one ear "Pikachu-Pi?"

"It's weird really" he frowned "It's been awhile since I've been traveling alone and it's been even a longer time since we've been together but . . ."

"Pi Ka Chu Pipikachu" Pikachu crossed his tiny arms and nodded his head.

"Argh!" rolling to one side and covering his head with a pillow "I shouldn't be thinking about that, we've got preliminaries to get through tomorrow!"

"Pika" the Pokémon waved a finger at his owner.

"I'M NOT IN DENIAL!"

"Pikaaa Pipipkapi Chupipi Kachu!"

"I'M FINE! LONELINESS IS FINE!"

Pikachu just shook his head "Pika, Pikachu"

"Well screw you too"

* * *

"Umm, Ash are you alright?" Sawyer asked the following morning while they were in the lobby awaiting their match-ups.

Indian seating on the floor with his hand trying to support his head and bags in his eyes he just replied with a "Hmgrrph"

Sawyer inspected the trainer "You didn't get much sleep last night did you?"

"I . . . had a lot of coffee yesterday" Ash replied.

Before Sawyer could say anything Nurse Joy let out an announcement "Will all trainers please look at your Pokedexes to see your match up for today"

Sawyer opened his "Whoa! I'm against Professor Birch's son!"

Ash nodded absentmindedly "Oh wow that's *yawn* great"

"Who did you get?"

Pikachu opened Ash's Pokedex for his owner since said person was half functional "Pika pipipi"

Ash let out another yawn "I don't think I know him . . . or her . . ."

"Are you sure you can battle?" Sawyer raised a brow "I mean sure it's the preliminaries but are you . . ."

For some reason in the middle of his half dazed state Ash saw it again, he was sure of it. It wasn't an illusion. It was the real thing. This made him immediately awake from his dazed state and stood up straight and ran for what he had just seen.

Ignoring the crowd and the calls of his name he just ran, he knew she was just there. He could tell it was her from a mile. Yet despite rushing over across the room like a madman he was left with nothing again.

Panting after circling around the Pokémon Center inside and out "Man, I lost her again"

Pikachu hopped on his master's shoulder "PIKA PI PIKACHU PIKA!"

Chuckling to himself and slapping his forehead "Sorry bud, I don't know what went over me"

* * *

It was already the semi-finals at the Fortree Cup and in the midst of the tournament break Ash found himself having lunch with his oldest rival: Gary Oak.

They were eating at a local café called _Bark Inc._ where the tables set on swings hanging from a large tree and their meals were served by Pelippers.

"Huh, so that's why you needed a flying type to get in" the Pokémon researcher-in-training looked down "Not for the faint of heart I see"

Ash looked over at another table nearby "Umm, those two seem fine" he pointed at the occupants which were an elderly couple and their terrified grandson.

"Huh" Gary then opened the menu "So, it seems that this tournament is a little too easy for you huh?"

Ash gave one last concerning look at the screaming grandson before replying "Well, I wouldn't say that . . . I guess"

"You were half asleep in almost all your battles" Gary wrote down his order on a piece of paper (to be given to the Pelippers) "In your first battle you hardly gave your Talonflame any command because you were passed out"

The raven head hid his embarrassed face behind the menu "I'll probably get some coffee while I'm at it"

Gary raised a brow "Are you sure you're fine? I mean you managed to half-ass your way through the tournament so far but the trainers at the Semis seem rough. Brendan is still in the tournament"

"Wait!" Ash dropped his menu "Brendan is in the tournament?"

Gary gave him a look "Weren't you talking to him this morning?"

Ash blinked "I was?"

"Ash what the fuck have you been smoking?" Gary deadpanned "Are you sure it's even safe for us to eat here? You might fall right off"

"I'm fine I'm fine!" Ash waved his hands but this movement caused the table to shake slightly and Pikachu held unto the swings "I just . . . haven't been sleeping well lately"

Gary crossed his arms "Clearly you haven't, what I'm wondering is why"

"I . . ." he looked away "Don't really know"

Seeing as his friend wouldn't budge Gary decided to switch the topic "By the way I saw Red yesterday"

Taking a sip of water "You saw who?"

"Misty"

Ash spat his drink.

This made Gary smirk "Yeah, it's been awhile since I saw her too and man she's definitely growing to be a Sensational Sister"

Wiping his mouth and trying to hide his annoyance "Sensational? Misty? I doubt it"

"I dunno" Gary placed his palms at the back of his neck "She may not be model like as her sisters but she's definitely curvier than them"

The raven head slammed the glass on the table causing a little spillage in the process.

"I heard she was supposed to enter that tournament but she registered too late" Gary continued "Wanted to invite her to lunch today cause I know she probably doesn't know you're alive as well but she declined"

Ash was processing so much information on his brain right now that the only thing he could say was "Oh"

"But I did ask for her number" the damn bastard winked "Maybe I'll ask her out sometime after this whole she-bang"

"Her? Go out with you?" Ash's brows drew together "Dream on Oak she doesn't go for players like you"

Gary shook his head "Aren't you just a little hypocritical, you go to one region get a girl and as soon as you're done with that region you leave said girl behind and go for something new"

"HEY!" Ash pointed a fork at his friend "I went to two regions with May and three with Misty! Also they're the ones who decided to go on their own! . . . We just had different goals and stuff"

The Oak just shook his head "Didn't you stop travelling with a caravan? How's that going for you?"

Ash grumbled "No comment"

"At least tell me you're not eating dirt so your mom wouldn't worry half the time and make me look for you at the middle of the night" Gary sighed "If you are then dude use your damn prize money"

"I don't eat Pokémon food thank you" Ash rolled his eyes "So where did you see Misty?"

"Oh that girl stumbled upon me myself" he fixed his hair "Girl was staying over at my hotel, lucky me"

Ash's face contorted "You know we're 200 feet above ground, and I always wondered what humans would look like from a drop from that height"

Gary made a steeple of his fingers "Now Ketchum, let's not let your jealousy cloud your judgement"

He scowled "I'm gonna push you off this table for that pun alone" he then looked at the couple hanging next to them so Gary wouldn't see his slowly blushing face "And I'm not jealous"

"Then you wouldn't mind if I asked that fine assed woman, and I mean _fine ass . . ._ "

Ash glared at him "Oak . . ." he growled.

Gary finished his statement "On a date"

Ash tightened his palms under the table into a fist "Why are you asking me this?"

Looking at his finely trimmed nails "When was the last time you saw her?"

The raven head's mouth twisted "Why are you answering my question with a question?"

"When was the last time you talked to her?" Gary asked again.

Ash frowned "When are we ordering?" he grabbed the menu and blocked his vision of Gary with it as the said person really irritated him at that time.

Lastly Gary asked with a smirk "Did you know she's shutting down the gym?"

That made Ash drop the menu and almost drop himself from the swing.

* * *

"Yeah she is" Brock answered as he removed his mask from his face after doing surgery on an injured Toxicroak who had several glass shards on his liver moments ago "Apparently she didn't do too well these past two seasons and she decided that maybe she needed a break from managing the gym"

It was the night before the final match in the tournament but for some reason that wasn't what was plaguing Ash's mind as of the moment "What about her sisters? Sure the other two might be terrible but Daisy wasn't that bad . . ."

"Ash Daisy is getting married this year" Brock tossed his mask "And she's moving with him to Unova after the wedding"

Ash blinked "Oh . . . good for her . . . tell her I said congrats?"

The doctor nodded "Will do, so, shouldn't you be prepping up for your battle tomorrow?"

"It's fine" the trainer crossed his arms and leaned back against his seat "I haven't faced the guy before but after seeing him battle his strategy is kinda predictable, will probably just use four or five Pokémon before he's down"

The corners of Brock's mouth turned up "Now aren't you getting a little cocky just because you're number one in Kanto"

"I've battled long enough to know whether a trainer is worth it or not" he squared his shoulders "Still can't believe Misty would quit, was she losing that badly?"

"Actually she wasn't" Brock answered "In fact she actually hasn't had a loss for two years"

Ash's eyes widened "Undefeated? FOR TWO YEARS?"

"Yep" Brock's smile slipped "But it seems the League wasn't too happy with that, seeing as it kinda discourages younger trainers into quitting"

"That's just stupid" Ash gritted his teeth "It's because they let trainers get it too easy that by the time they reach the Senior Circuit they're so weak that they won't even make it through the qualifier rounds"

Brock shrugged "Well the League had its own politics, even with Goodshow being chair and he's not getting any younger"

"I guess so . . ."

"By the way" Brock rubbed the bottom of his chin "Why are you asking me this?" he then paused his rubbing "You did see Misty there right?"

Ash groaned "So Gary wasn't lying that she's here"

The Pokémon doctor gave him a concerning look "So you really haven't talked to her since your accident huh?"

"It's not that I don't want to talk to her" Ash sighed "She just left a note at the hospital saying she was sorry"

"That explains her changing her number all of a sudden" Brock shook his head.

"Now that's insulting" Ash leered.

"She obviously still blames herself" Brock advised "And it doesn't help that she's stubborn about it too"

Groaning and leaning back against his chair "I wished she'd just yell at me or something, I'd rather she hate me than ignore me"

"She's not ignoring you she's avoiding you"

"Brock, stop making things sound worse"

The doctor sighed "Well technically she's doing a bad job avoiding you"

Ash raised a brow.

"I mean" Brock smirked "You know she's there, it'll be a matter of time before you find her"

* * *

The crowd was huge.

Despite being one of the smallest cities in the Hoenn region the Fortree Cup garnered a lot of traction. Several elite trainers participated due to the fact that it was part of the Indigo Grand Prix, making the tree city filled with both trainers and spectators.

This made Misty have several options to hide in case the inevitable were to happen. She could have just watched the telecast at home, she could have just made use of that really expensive subscription she paid for that allowed her to watch every match from every tournament. Yet for some reason it wasn't enough, for some reason she thought that she should make an even more expensive investment to travel to Hoenn, buy a ticket (Indigo Grand Prix tickets were quite expensive almost costing five figures at lowest), endure the harsh weather conditions on waiting in line for a ticket, book a hotel and then actually watch the matches while at a far distance from the stadium and being distracted from time to time by the hyper 7 year old who kept whining at his mother that he wanted front seat tickets.

Which was the current problem she faced right now.

"MAMA!" the young toddler who was a really chubby grey haired boy "I WANNA SEAT IN FRONT I WANNA SEE THE ACTION!"

The mother who was quite thin and also had grey hair (Misty wondered if it was natural or from stress of raising such a child) tried to coax her child "But Timmy it's quite dangerous, you might get hit from the attacks"

But Timmy was not having it raising his nose "Nuh-uh, the League made sure that the shields were like super strong"

"It's still dangerous" the mother chastised "Remember what happened to Ash Ketchum two years ago?"

Almost immediately Misty's face went pale.

"That wasn't an official battle!" Timmy argued "There was just some stupid gym leader who was pissed at him and had a Gyrados hit him"

Misty covered her face with the cap she wore, she knew that the League didn't release the reports, she knew it Ash made sure of that, but that didn't mean gossip wouldn't float around regarding the incident.

" _AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMEN TIME FOR THE MAAAAIIIN EVENT!"_ as the announcer's voice boomed through the speakers all the lights in the stadium shut off " _THE FINAL ROUND OF THE FORTREE CUP!_ "

Sounds of cheers and yells from the crowd erupted, including little Timmy who had forgotten about the whole not sitting in front thing and just got brought up by the hype.

A spot light shone on the left side of the arena " _ON THE LEFT CORNER HAILING FROM LAVARIDGE TOWN. THE UNDERDOG OF THE HOENN REGION GIVE IT UP FOR OWEN RODION!_ "

There was loud screaming and a little few boos here and there but the crowd was mostly positive, he was from Hoenn after all. The boos were probably from the people who still couldn't believe he beat Brendan Birch at the quarter-finals.

"ALRIGHT BIG BROOOO!" yelled Timmy who was now jumping in his seat he then faced Misty and pointed at the arena "That's my big bro out there!"

The mother just sighed "Please excuse my son, he's a little excited about his brother"

Misty just smiled "Don't worry I understand his excitement" she then looked at the stage out came out what was probably just an older version of Timmy.

The arena was silent for a moment " _NOW ON THE RIGHT CORNER WE HAVE REIGNING FROM PALLET TOOOOWWWN"_ the cheers in the audience got loud " _KANTO'S CHOSEN SON! AAAASSSSSHHHH KETCHUM!"_

If the cheers of the first entrance was loud this one was loud by ten times over. It was like the wave of screaming and cheers were so loud it would have been heard by the next town. There was no doubt that the fan favorite was definitely him.

Misty couldn't help but let out a little smile, he's definitely come a long way from dragging Pikachu around with electric gloves.

"BOOOOOOO BOOOO!" Timmy yelled.

His mother looked at her son "Dear don't do that, I thought you were a fan of Ash?"

Timmy blinked "Well uhh. . . but he's against big bro . . ."

The red head just shook her head. As the said trainer made his entrance in her mind it was as though it were in slow motion. His signature cap was there (re-sized for the fifth time due to how much he kept growing over the years) dressed in a black shirt and blue vest with Pikachu on his shoulder it almost looked like his outfit from when he was a beginning trainer. The only difference was he was taller now and his confidence.

He addressed the crowd by doing a salute with his two fingers which of course they fell for hook line and sinker. Pikachu even leaped out from his master's shoulder and did a little twirl in the air before landing on the ground which enticed more cheers.

"Man they got cockier" Misty muttered but she was smiling the whole time. It was in here that she felt her PokeGear vibrate on her pocket. When she opened it she noticed it was an unknown number, when she read the message though she had almost dropped the phone in shock. She looked right back at the arena and almost as if one cue the bastard did a wink directly at the camera which showed on the giant screens around the arena. It was as if he knew. She looked back at the message.

 _We need to talk. Meet me after the battle. Room 175._

* * *

Misty had been contemplating the whole battle on whether or not she should go or not. At first she thought that she was crazy and maybe it was just random text or a prank or some sorts. Only later during the mid-break in the battle he texted again saying that yes it was him, he did in fact take her new number from Brock and if she even ditched him he knew where her hotel room was and reminded her that he had connections.

Since when did he have connections? No the real question was when did he start using his connections as a threat?

She was already in the lobby of the inn he was staying and she still doubted herself.

"This was a stupid idea" she found herself talking to a random plant "I spent over two years trying to avoid him. Why of all times did he choose to contact me now? I knew I shouldn't have given Brock my number. Maybe I could still escape, just cause he knows my hotel room, he's probably still being bugged by the press. Should I just buy facial hair and move to Ecuador?"

Her ramblings was interrupted by someone coughing behind her and she jumped in surprise and turned to the man. "Excuse me madam" said probably a member of the hotel staff "You're . . . conversation is frightening some of the guests"

Misty blushed and bowed her head "I'm sorry" she waved her hands "I'll just leave . . ."

"That won't be necessary madam" the posh man replied.

The redhead winced "You're gonna kick me out?"

"Not necessarily" the man then brought out his smartwatch "Sir, we found her"

* * *

"It didn't have to be this way Mist" the moment Misty entered the room she saw Ash Indian sitting on his bed. "You had to make me desperate"

She closed the door behind her; she refused to look at him "You're not the only one desperate here"

Ash gave a little smile "So, how are you?"

She tried not to look at him, the moment she did she knew that everything she did up till now would be a waste. Her stupid pride that made her do this in the first place wouldn't let her; she didn't want to fall down that easy.

When she didn't say anything he sighed "It kinda sucks you know" he rested his chin on his hand "If you're mad at me I get it. If you hate me I get it. If you never want to see my stupid face again, I get it"

She was staring at the golden leaf wallpaper a little too hard.

"So just tell me" he straightened his back "Tell me I'm an idiot and how much you hate me and I'll let you leave"

Misty bit her lip ". . . Are you . . . better now?" she heard the bed creak and footsteps coming towards her. She then felt him grab her hand which sent goosebumps over her spine. Her fingers then felt something hard and she immediately turned to see.

Right in front of her in his shirtless glory was Ash and her fingers her touching an area over his chest just over the breastbone. "As you can see" she almost jumped when he spoke "I'm fine"

She then pulled away from his grip and turned to one side "I'm . . . glad you're fine . . ."

Sighing and looking up at the ceiling "Mist, it wasn't your fault"

"You were out for a week" she said almost mechanically "It was my Gyrados that hit you, it was in my gym, and it was my command. Thus it's my responsibility"

"It would have been my responsibility to be a responsible person to at least duck or use another Pokémon to divert the attack" he faced her back "Arceus, it's been two years already!"

She finally faced him "I ALMOST KILLED YOU!" she yelled "IF WE DIDN'T MAKE IT TO THE HOSPITAL IN TIME YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD! YOU WERE SO CLOSE TO IT THAT I SWEAR ARCEUS OR WHATEVER LEGENDARY PROBABLY COMBINED THEIR POWERS JUST TO BRING YOU BACK FROM THE DEAD!"

He looked at her "I've been through more shit than that Mist" he raised his finger "Heck Team Rocket has been through more shit than me and they're perfectly fine"

She covered her face "Of course I know you been through more shit I WAS THERE!" she removed her palms to reveal tears in her eyes "I WAS FUCKING THERE WHEN MEWTWO TURNED YOU TO STONE. I WAS THERE WHEN YOU ALMOST DROWNED AT THE HOW MANY END OF THE WORLD SCENARIO YOU JUST HAD TO BE INVOLVED WITH!" she took a deep breath "You wanna know why I can't see you? You wanna know why I avoid you?"

"Please" he raised his arms "Tell me"

"I CAN'T KEEP SEEING YOU DIE!" she yelled that line so loud that her throat felt sore and more tears started to flow on her face "I just can't . . ." she covered her face, pushed her back against the wall and fell to the floor "Every night I keep having the same dream of you just . . . dying. It could be from a hyperbeam, a truck, heck I even had a dream I actually killed you . . ."

Ash bent down and tried to reach out to her "Mist . . ."

"It's a stupid reason! A fucking stupid reason I know!" she wiped her tears "Like it's not like it's entirely your fault that the fate of the world always rests on your shoulders"

"Well I kinda blame them sometimes" Ash looked down on the floor trying not to be as badly affected by the sight of his best friend being a total mess "I mean seriously can't they have like The Chosen Twelve or something? Why just One? What if it's the end of the world and I have diarrhea?"

Misty couldn't help but snort "I wouldn't be surprised if that would actually happen"

"Oh please no" Ash said actually looking petrified "I don't wanna face a bad guy equipped with just baby wipes and my ass in the toilet"

The red head let out a tiny chuckle "Of course you'd think of something like that"

Turning to the girl he slowly reached out his hand towards her and patted her head "I'm sorry"

Her expression closed up "It's not . . ."

"It's not your fault" Ash let out a sigh for the umpteenth time "It's not even my fault if we're being completely honest but that's not something we can actually control" his expression hardened "I can handle any shit that those bastards can throw at me, but . . . it's only now that I realized how much it affects the people around me . . . especially on you"

She bowed her head "Ash . . ."

His free hand tightened into a fist "I've hurt you real bad Misty, and it kinda pisses me off that I only realized that just now"

"It's just like you said" she shook her head "It's something we can't control . . . but that doesn't mean it's something to be okay about. The dreams got so bad that I just thought if I just cut myself out from your life then maybe . . . it wouldn't hurt as bad . . ." she spread her arms wide "But I guess that's obviously not gonna workout"

"Putting aside the whole thing about me constantly dy . . . facing severe . . . shit . . ." he tried to change the topic "I miss you"

She looked at him "You're lying, you've got several other traveling mates to replace me right?" she tried making a fake smile "I mean you seemed to be doing well with Serena . . ."

He pulled back his hand "I travel alone now"

Her fake smile dropped "Oh"

"I mean sure, I have this new friends to see but . . ." he rubbed the back of his head "There's just something about you and Brock. You're the first two people I've travelled with, you're the first people I trusted and really bonded with. We just have this connection that really isn't the same with the other groups I've been with"

This time a small genuine smile formed on her lips "Aren't you a sweet talker"

"Also" he drew nearer to her face that their forehead were basically touching "The fact that you left me in the hospital room with a note is uncalled for, you could have at least said it to my face"

Lowering the cap on her face "I told you I was scared"

"Two years Misty" she could feel his breath "We haven't talked for two whole years; I knew it had something to do with that whole accident but . . . I thought you hated me at some point"

Lifting up her cap a bit "Then why didn't you use your 'connections' to find me earlier"

He pulled away "I wanted to give you space . . . also" he looked away blushing "I was bluffing on that one"

She blinked "So what would you have done if I didn't come then?"

He looked back at her "Then . . ." he drew his lower lip between his teeth "I'll just wait until you're ready . . ."

She looked at him intently "I'm really sorry, I really overreacted . . ."

"No you're right" at that point he stood up.

She looked up "What are you gonna do"

Giving her a smirk "I think I need to have a chat with Arceus about a few things"

* * *

 **Sorry been awhile been piled up with work, gotta pay them bills. I had so much ideas for stories but sadly it was only now that I managed to have time.**

 **This is one of those stories where I had a completely different idea at first and ended up going another by the time I reached it. Also I realize I really need to make more justified endings.**

 **Thank you to anyone whose read this story.**


	20. Turbulent

**Turbulent /tûr′by** **ə** **-l** **ə** **nt/ adjective - involving a lot of sudden changes, arguments, or violence**

 **Song: Night Rider (feat. Phoebe Ray)**

 **Artist: Draper**

 **Year: 2013**

 **AU where they're in college and Pokemon is only restricted to licensed individuals after university.**

* * *

Brock was a responsible person. He was always there for you and gave you great advice when you needed. He was everyone's big brother. But like every big brother Brock also had the tendency to have a higher than normal libido that made him drool at the sight of every pretty girl he sees. And it's because of that it sometimes makes his usually reasonable judgement throw out the window making him make stupid decisions.

Like bringing his so-called 'little sister' Misty into a stupid music festival full of drunken college students mixed with really loud sounds that despite being a millennial herself Misty does not consider being music. All because of this one hot girl Brock apparently hit off with at Starmiebucks.

And of course, not five minutes had passed and she had already lost track of the said guy in the midst of party-goers. She could remember packed trains more comfortable than this; at least in a packed train they're just standing, in here they're actually jumping and throwing who knows what.

Trying to get out of the most pit Misty grumbled "Urgh, I just got here and I'm already covered in sweat" it didn't help that when her sisters overheard that she was going to a music festival they forced her to wear a black one-piece bathing suit (she thought they were only for swimming) tiny black shorts that looked like they were just cut out from jeans, and black buckle boots.

After literally crawling out of the throng of people she pulled out her phone out of her black fanny pack. It was a good thing she denied the hair extensions but she was forced to have some braid at the centre of her head which was just giving her a headache.

"Come on pickup" she tried going over to a 'quiet place' which was basically just next to a portable toilet so that she could actually hear herself. After several failed attempts she finally got him "BROCK HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN I WAS WITH YOU?"

"Sorry Misty!" the older guy replied, "I was actually spending the past thirty minutes looking for you!"

The redhead groaned "It's been two hours Brock . . ."

"Umm sorry, Misty I can't hear you!" Brock yelled and she could hear the cheers of several women in the background "Could you just text me where you're at and I'll have someone pick you up"

"Wait what?! Brock, you gotta be more specific who this someone is, what if it's just some creep who's trying to get into my pants?!" she yelled back at the phone "Hello?" she looked at the phone realizing he had hung up.

The girl let out a sigh "Why did I agree to this?" she then took a deadpan selfie of herself in front of the portable cubicle doing a peace sign and just in time some random chick choose that moment to barf right behind her.

* * *

After around thirty minutes or so and being exposed to enough neon clothing and glow sticks that she probably has radiation someone taps her from behind.

"Oh thank Arceus it's actually you," says some tallish guy with messed up jet black hair wearing a tight red rolled up floral shirt and aviator shades.

The redhead backed away "Umm . . . I think you've got the wrong person"

"What Misty it's me!" the guy then removed his shades to reveal very familiar chocolate brown eyes.

At this Misty's eyes widened "ASH? What?" she started pointed at random directions "What are you. . . Why are you . . . What?"

Ash scratched the bottom of his chin "Yeah . . . Gary sorta dragged my ass along here"

"Ahh" Misty nodded "I knew you weren't into these sort of things like you spent the entire spring break last year playing Warcraft"

At this the guy blushed "Shut up like you weren't doing the same thing last year" he pointed out.

Now it was her time to blush "Well . . . uh, that was because . . . I had to make sure your mom knew you were alive okay!"

"Whatever" he placed his shades back on "Brock just told me to pick you up since he's been following Stella all day"

"Who's Stella?" Misty asked "The chick from Starmiebucks?"

"Yep" he checked his watch "Man it's almost lunchtime" he turned to her "Why don't we get out of here and find some decent place to eat"

She let out a sigh of relief "That's the best idea I've heard all day" she then jolted in surprise when he suddenly wrapped his hand around her waist.

Noticing her shock "It'd be a pain if I lost you in the crowd so just endure this till we're out in the clear"

"Uhh sure," she nodded.

It wasn't that she hated Ash in particular but as long as she could remember from the moment at the co-ed dorm room during the first they almost always ended up in a screaming match. It was so consistent that some of their dorm mates told them to just fuck and get it over with, which was met with Misty throwing several items including her mallet at said dorm mates face.

While they do get on each other's nerves quite often there were times were they got along just great, whether it be them exchanging games, loaning extra fabric softener (which he had in abundance thanks to his mother) or just having someone to eat or have a coffee break with whenever she felt lonely at three am in the morning after spending the night doing her thesis.

After managing to get to the exit in one piece (for some reason the security took her sunblock which the two thought was a sacrifice for freedom at this point) they let out a sigh of relief.

"Gosh I am never going to a festival again" Ash panted as he held onto his knees "If I wanted to go to a concert I'll go to a separate one thank you"

Fanning herself with her hand "Well at least we got out alive" she then went over to him "So, where are we eating?"

"I don't care" he raised his palm "Just anything with air-conditioning"

"Come on Ketchum" she grabbed his hand and dragged him through the street "If you just stand there you'll probably actually turn to your name"

It took a moment for it to register in his head before he said "HEY!"

* * *

"So what are we gonna do the whole afternoon?" Ash asked as they just finished eating at an Italian restaurant and they were now having ice cream while they cooled down.

Misty opened her phone "Apparently Brock's looking for us, looks like Stacy ditched him for some muscle guy with nipple piercings"

"That's a specific detail he let out" Ash placed a spoon of cherry vanilla ice cream into his mouth.

"Oh Brock didn't tell me that" she then showed him her phone which did show a blonde girl on top of a muscle man with nipple piercings' shoulder "Apparently she still tagged Brock in the picture"

"Poor guy, should I order an extra-large sundae for him?" he asked.

Taking her phone back "Well it's his fault for falling for her, she probably just wanted a free ride and hotel to the festival, yeah Brock paid for everything"

He blinked "Then maybe you could cancel her room or something"

"We'll see if we can" she sighed and put down her phone.

Going for another scoop "Yaddo bear"

Leering at him "Ash, chew first before you speak"

He swallowed "I said nice hair"

She was taken aback "Uh, thanks" she patted her middle braid "It actually hurt when my sisters braided it"

"Your sisters came by the dorm again?" he raised a brow.

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear "Yeah when I said I was going to the Celadon Music Festival they immediately came knocking by my door three hours later telling me I needed a make-over"

He cocked his head "Hmm, you are wearing heavier make-up than usual"

"I don't even wear that much make-up" she looked away.

He shrugged "That's true" he took a cherry from his ice cream "I like you better in your natural look"

Misty gave him an incredulous look, why was he so complimentary of her all of a sudden? Did he get a few drinks before they met? "So I assume Gary paid for you as well. Who else did he drag along?" she asked trying to change the topic.

Counting with his fingers "Me, Brendan, Drew, Jimmy and Lucas" he then licked the ice cream from the spoon "Before Brock texted we were actually hanging out in the VIP area"

"Of course you got VIP tickets" Misty rolled her eyes and then suddenly shock came to her as she slammed her palms on the table making Ash almost drop his sundae "Oh shit I forgot about May and Marina!"

* * *

Compared to the massive crowd filled with people sloshing each other and a mix of smells of who knows what the VIP looked like an oasis in the midst of the chaos.

"Also why didn't we just pass through the VIP exit," Misty asked Ash as they passed through the VIP entrance "I wouldn't have had to sacrifice my sunscreen"

"We were already far from the VIP exit and I didn't know if they would let you use it" he argued back.

So after much searching Misty found out that May and Marina were not at all in harm as the two girls have also found themselves in the Gary Oak VIP list. In fact, Brock was even by the mini-bar trying to hit on the uninterested bartender.

"Why didn't you tell me you were here earlier?" Misty glared at the two girls as they were lounging by the comfortable couches offered in the VIP area.

May nudged her friend "Oh come on Misty, isn't the important thing that we're all together in the end?"

"I WAS OUT THERE WITH THE BEASTS FOR TWO TO THREE HOURS!"

Marina massaged the fiery redhead trying to calm her down "Now come on Misty, we did get Ash to find you anyway. Heck knowing you, you probably made him pay for your lunch"

"He has nothing to do with your utter betrayal" Misty glared "You were supposed to help me in this dark hour but you abandoned me to die"

Both girls hugged her "Come on Misty relax a little" May cooed.

"Yeah, why not have a drink?" Marina offered "The next round is on us"

Misty crossed her arms "You think alcohol is going to solve all of this!?"

Almost three shots later she had completely forgotten of their 'betrayal'.

* * *

It was now late in the evening or early in the morning, Misty didn't know her phone had been dead for a while and for some reason clocks did not exist at the moment. While she did have a few drinks and did a few wild things (like doing body shots at some random dude) she was sober enough to get out of the festival and find her way to their motel room. Though right now her head was really heavy right now and what she really wanted to do was crash into bed and sleep for five days.

"Urgh, I need some water" the redhead groaned as she unlocked her room. She turned on the lights and what she saw immediately made her scream. "WHAT THE F-?!"

In response, the random dude who was in her supposed bed also screamed "WAAHHHH"

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" Misty then grabbed the nearby lamp and held it like a weapon "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!"

That was when a feminine groan sounded "Urgh, what's going on?" and then from under the sheets popped out a certain blonde girl "Huh? Who are you?"

"I SHOULD BE THE ONE ASKING THAT!"

That was when the lightbulb probably dinged in her head "Ohh, you're Duuussstttyyy"

The redhead grit her teeth "It's Misty"

"Oh okay" the girl sat up "Umm if you don't mind, I'm gonna use this room," she said in probably the most dazed expression Misty had ever seen "I mean I'm sure you could sleep in your gay friend's room"

Misty blinked "You mean Brock?"

"Yeah" the blonde giggled and turned to her hard candy "She has this super nice gay friend who paid for everything"

Misty didn't know if she should be pissed at Brock for falling for dumb dumbs like that chick or feel bad that said dumb dumb chick thought this whole time he was gay.

She just decided to be pissed in general.

"AARRRGGHH!"

And slammed the lamp into the floor.

* * *

Now Misty found herself kicked out of the motel for damage to property and found herself freezing in the middle of Celadon. She was leaning against a lamp post as if waiting for pneumonia to slowly come and kill her because her 'cute' outfit sadly did not come with a sweater.

She was then disturbed from her freezing death by a wolf whistle.

"Well hello there" Misty opened her eyes to see two buffed up frat boys dressed in jerseys in caps checking her out "You alone?"

Too tired to even fake a smile she just glared "Fuck off"

"Ohhh this chick's a nasty one," said frat boy #1 "You know what they say about that"

Frat boy number #2 was eying her legs "She's not too bad either" he licked his lips "Say why don't we take you to a place somewhere warmer"

Misty straightened her back "I said not interested" she was about to turn and walked away but she was blocked by the other frat guy before she knew it she was cornered.

"Come on," one of them said trying to touch her leg but she smacked his hand just in time "Playing hard to get"

"Well let's see if she's gonna stay hard to get" frat boy #2 then grabbed her from behind.

"Hey!" Misty yelled and tried to escape and kicked her legs "YOU BASTARDS LET ME GO!"

"Now just keep still" frat boy #1 tried to grab her legs only for him to get knocked in the head by a beer can.

This took frat boy #2 by surprise "Huh what the"

"If you don't let the girl go" all eyes turned to a guy standing by a car tossing something hard in his hand "I'm gonna throw something harder than that"

Someone in the car then commented "Ash, where the heck did you get that ashtray from?"

Ash then replied like it was a normal thing "Uh, from the VIP lounge, I thought I might need it"

"Do you want us to get sued!" yelled the person in the car "I already have a student loan to worry about I don't need to worry about litigation fees!"

In the midst of the arguing and the frat boys getting distracted Misty used this opportunity to elbow the guy holding her right on his neck and before he could even react she gave him a good kick in the groin.

"You bitch!" the frat boy yelled in pain as he held onto his crown jewels.

"You're gonna pay for that!" the other guy was about to attack her but once again got hit in the head, this time by the ashtray. The guy fell right to the ground completely knocked out.

"MISTY COME ON!" Ash yelled opening the car door open.

Not wanting to wait for frat boy #2 to get up the redhead picked up the ashtray (it might be used against them later) and ran for the car and dived in. Ash then followed suit and yelled, "GO!"

"I'm going! I'm going! Geez" the driver, who was Lucas, groaned.

As they drove off Misty was panting hard and holding tightly unto the ashtray.

Ash noticed this "Hey" he tried to place his hand on her shoulder but she raised her palm.

"Not . . . now" she panted then looked at the ashtray and noticed a trace of blood "Ash . . . I think you threw too hard"

Lucas heard this and groaned "Great we are getting a lawsuit"

"It was in self-defence" Ash rubbed his forehead "They were about to ga-"

"Ash please don't say it" Misty put down the ashtray to somewhere she can't see it "In fact just . . . shut up for now"

Giving one last concerning look he sighed and leaned back against his seat leaving the ride to the hotel a quiet one.

* * *

Afterwards, everything ended up becoming a blur and before she knew it she found herself sitting on a shower of some fancy hotel the boys were staying at. As the lukewarm water hit her back Misty had been trying to hold onto her breathing. The entire day had been nothing but stressful and if anything she would just want to evaporate right then and there.

There was then a knock on the door "Hey Mist! I'm gonna leave my clothes outside" it was Ash "Don't worry about your stuff we're gonna try and get it in the morning"

Taking a deep breath she let out a tired "Thanks".

"I know you probably feel like shit right now and it's not a good time . . . but I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have hit the guy with the ashtray, I overreacted and I'm sorry" he paused "If anything happens I'll take full responsibility, and . . . yeah I'm sorry"

She then heard a click meaning he probably left or something which meant she was now alone. The girl then stood up and wiped off some of the steam from the glass which allowed her to see her reflection. With all her make-up washed up the only thing she could see was a really pale girl with tiny freckles on her cheeks, dark circles under her eyes and really wet red hair.

"What does it mean he likes me better like this" she muttered to herself.

* * *

After finishing her bath she changed into Ash's black sweater and grey sweat pants which due to the fact that she was 5'5 and he was 6'2 meant that they were very much oversized.

Stepping out from the bath she called out "Hey, it's your turn" she looked around the room to notice that he wasn't there. "Ash?" she looked around and saw that he was out by the balcony "ASH!?"

In shock, the said person had thrown his cigarette and turned to the girl with a hand on his chest "Geebus Mist you scared me"

She popped her head into the balcony "So is that why you got the ashtray? You were smoking?"

"Uhh . . . yeah sorry," he rubbed the back of his head "I know you told me to quit" he then turned to look down.

Misty then entered the balcony and looked down at the city view "Hopefully that cigarette doesn't hit anyone or start a fire"

Leaning his back against the balcony "Don't jinx it would ya"

She looked at the guy next to her for some reason his unkempt hair reminded her of a poodle she used to have as a child that she ended up reaching out and petting his head.

"Uhh . . . Mist" Ash turned red "What are you doing?"

"You really have fluffy hair," she said stroking his hair "Kinda nice really"

Not knowing exactly how to reply to that he just said "Umm . . . okay?"

"You know you're kinda like a dog," Misty said in almost a dream-like trance.

A muscle in his jaw twitched "Why?"

"You're really messy, always fooling around and eat a lot" she giggled "But you're also really loyal and protect the people you love"

He looked away trying to hide his reddening face "Umm . . . thanks . . ."

She continued playing with his hair "So did Brock call over again? Was that why you came by the motel?"

"Uhh not really" he let out a sigh "Brock was already passed out when the hotel called about you breaking a lamp. It just so happened I was keeping an eye on him that I answered his phone"

She moved closer to him "I should be the one saying sorry" she tangled a strand of his hair around her finger "I mean you've practically saved my ass the whole day if you didn't pick me up on both occasions who knows what would have happened to me"

Suddenly his face went serious "I rather not think about that" he then pushed away from the balcony "We should get inside its cold out here and I need a shower" he said giving her a smile.

"Umm sure" she blinked and looked unsure as he entered the room.

* * *

As soon as Ash got off the shower she noticed that Misty had already made herself comfortable in the bed. She had bundled herself around the quilts and it would be a hassle to try and get an extra blanket for himself.

Yawning he decided that he'll just have to endure the cold and was about to head for the couch when she spoke.

"You're sleeping in the couch?" she asked, apparently she was wide awake.

"Well . . ." he gestured at her "You're obviously taking the bed"

She then unwrapped her blanket burrito and opened a space for him "Then come in then"

He raised his hands "Woah that's not necessary"

"Come on its cold" she argued "You don't even have a shirt on"

"That's cause I only brought two shirts" he replied.

"Exactly" she patted the space next to her "Now get in it's really cold"

Seeing as he was way too tired to argue he just gave in and crashed into the bed "There I'm in the bed happy"

"You really are a kid" she rolled her eyes and then wrapped him around the blanket and pretty much made sure that there was absolutely no space between them "You're pretty cold" she commented.

He gave her a look "Are you sure you're not drunk?"

She frowned "If I was that thing a while back sobered me enough, now I'm just tired"

"I mean" he sighed "We're in a bed together!" he gestured to her "I'm shirtless you're wearing my clothes and we're in a hotel that's just saying something"

As soon as Ash said that it was when it dawned to her that yes, Ash was still a guy. In fact, now that she had a better look at it he was a very fit guy and the thought of what he just said was starting to make her imagine certain things that she usually kept at the very back of her brain that she rather not think about especially if said person was in the room.

"Misty, are you overheating? Your face is boiling" Ash commented.

"It's nothing ignore that" Misty turned her back on him trying to get some dignity "Look if you're worried about... . _that_ so much then fine take the couch"

Ash thought of it for a moment "Umm well I could, but now that you dragged me here I rather not venture into the cold"

"Then stop saying weird shit!" Misty touched her face and she wondered if she actually was boiling.

"I'm just being realistic" he sighed "I mean for all I know you're gonna kick me in the groin tomorrow like you did that guy awhile back"

"I'd rather have you touch me than that bastard!" as soon as she yelled that she immediately regretted it.

Ash faced her "Did I hear that . . ."

"Can we just sleep! You're tired, I'm tired we're all tired let's just forget about this hahaha" she said so doing a shaky laugh.

There was a moment of awkward silence that was so long Misty thought he had actually decided to sleep. As soon as she let her guard down she felt a hand on her waist and something hard press on her back.

"Wha. . . what are you doing?" she was trying to have a mental picture of ducks, the code of ethics or anything that could keep her mind off the situation.

He then spoke to her ear and it took a lot of self-control not to moan as she felt his breath on her ear "Well you're quite warm" he said then for some reason, it was as if they bastard knew, he lowered his voice "And didn't you just say you don't mind me touching you?"

Biting her lip "Ash, I could hit you groin right now if I wanted to"

"Come on I was just teasing" he immediately let go of her and lay on his back.

In response, she nudged his ribs "Jerk"

"Ow" he rubbed the area she hit "I was serious about you being warm though"

She finally turned to face him "How about when you said I was . . . I mean . . ." she then lowered her voice "Well he didn't say I was cute . . ."

"You're cute"

"What?" she looked at him in shock.

"What?" he looked at her in confusion.

She waved her hand "Why did you say that?"

"You just said. . ."

"Never mind what I said!"

"I dunno Mist, we live in a day and age of female consent"

"Urgh," the girl groaned and covered her face with her palms "Let's just sleep . . . please"

"One question" he raised his finger.

Rolling her eyes "What"

"Can I cuddle you?" the way he looked at her like a puppy asking to play outside.

At this point she was already too exasperated to care "Fine" she turned her back on him "But if I smell tobacco or whatever you smoke I'm kicking you out of the bed"

"Don't worry I used mouthwash" he said as he once again wrapped his arms around his waist and this time burying his head on her neck.

Feeling her face heat up again "Am I really that warm?"

"You're also cuddly" he muttered into her neck which gave her some goosebumps.

"You're really taking advantage of this situation aren't you?"

"Yep"

"Fine" she again turned around their faces were now just mere inches from each other, her hands were pressed on his chest and she had her legs wrapped around him "Two could play it that way" she smiled sweetly.

He looked down at her "You're playing a dangerous game"

She pressed her cheeks against him "You're the one who started it" she then gave a quick peck at his chest "My little doggie" she winked.

Almost immediately Ash flipped and pinned her down to the bed with her arms above her head "Looks like this dog has a few tricks up his sleeve"

Misty tried to look defiant "Uhh . . . I thought this was just teasing . . ." she gulped.

"I thought so too" and in one swift move, he captured her lips.

If her face was hot a moment ago now she was sure her face was warm enough to fry an egg. As he pulled away she noticed that his face was getting a little red as well.

For a while, the two just stared at each other in awkward silence yet again.

"Umm . . ." Ash bit his lip, he's probably crossed the line and will probably get an ass-whooping by the time she came to her senses "I . . . went a little too far didn't I?"

Not knowing what she was doing herself she reached out her palms and touched his face "Yeah . . ." she then leaned over and kissed him back.

* * *

Gary was not having a good morning, in fact, he was having a crappie one. First, his friends suddenly left him at the venue so he had no choice but to Uber his way back to the hotel. The hot dancer he wanted to hook-up with passed out drunk as soon as they entered the hotel room. His bank had called him saying that they temporarily locked his card cause someone was making too many suspicious purchases (believe it or not this was the one time he binged on alcohol). And as he decided to get some sleep as well said drunk girl choose that very moment to barf in the bed.

Now with a Trenta sized cold brew with cascara cold foam in his hand he was gonna barge into every one of his friends' hotel rooms and rudely wake them up because he was just that pissed.

The first victim was Lucas whom he gladly woke up by placing several phones around the room (he had no idea where three of those phones came from) and made them all play Megalovania as loud as they probably can. This resulted in Lucas pretty much throwing all the phones just trying to shut them down.

Next victim was Drew, who apparently gave up his bed for May and was now sleeping in the couch. Well, then that means more victims. With that, Gary started a tiny fire that was safe enough not to burn the furniture but strong enough to start the fire sprinklers in the room. Gary fled the room before May could strangle him to death.

He then went over to Brendan's room only to find out that the guy was already awake.

"Oak," the brunet asked just with a towel on as he had just taken a shower "What on earth are you . . ."

"Shhh" Gary raised a finger "Drew's girl is gonna get my head"

Slapping his forehead "You did something stupid again didn't you"

"It's called a rude awakening" Gary crossed his arms "You're lucky you woke up early"

At this Brendan snorted "More like I couldn't even sleep at all" he pointed his thumb at the next room "Apparently Ash got lucky last night"

This peaked Gary's interest looks like covering Jimmy with flour would have to wait. "Is that so, well then why don't we give him a little greeting shall we?"

* * *

In typical Oak fashion, the young man kicked open the door (he had a copy of all their hotel room keys as he paid for it) equipped in two water guns at hand and an unsure Brendan behind him.

"Are you sure this is a good . . ." before Brendan could finish his statement there was screaming that could be heard.

"WOAH!"

"GARY WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?"

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

Brendan immediately retreated for the door "I'M NOT INVOLVED IN THIS!" he yelled as he dashed out.

Ash groaned still half awake "You're gonna regret this"

"Like hell, he's gonna regret this" Misty wrapped up in only bedsheets to cover herself held a metal bedside lamp as her weapon.

Raising up his arms "I was just gonna wake you guys up Jeebus" Gary rolled his eyes "Also, in Brendan defence he said you guys were too loud last night that he couldn't sleep" and with that said he turned his heel and left the room.

This left the couple frozen with very red faces.

Misty still holding out the lamp "Was I really that . . ."

"Put the lamp down first"

* * *

 **Hmm, I wonder if that ending is more satisfactory than my recent ones XD.**

 **Thanks to** **EmaBixx for favoriting this story :3**

 **cake0108: Well they're probably gonna end up together in this one.  
**

 **Nami: There are definitely more complications in their relationship in Rascal but that's probably a whole character analysis on its own. For sternum well, maybe if Misty could get off her slight PTSD and if Ash tells Arceus to fuck off XD.**


End file.
